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The mission of the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association has been to create a usable map of pedestrian pathways in Berkeley and the surrounding communities for public use and enjoyment.

Mission accomplished.

Now that local bookstores have sold out of their orders for the maps and the group prepares to have more copies made, it is becoming clear that these little links of Berkeley’s past are ready to be discovered by the public.

Since its printing two months ago, the initial run of 2000 maps has sold out. Some local bookstores tested buyer response cautiously, buying only a small number of copies, but they quickly ordered more copies when their stock sold out.

Black Oak Books on Shattuck Avenue has sold out of their supply of the maps, with most of the customers noticing the map as they shopped at the store.

“Now people are requesting it, especially in the last week,” said Rose Katz, a representative of the bookstore. “They've got a winner.”

The map committee members of the BPWA volunteered for more than a year on the project, well-aware that their only reward would be the satisfaction of helping others find their way along the paths with greater ease, efficiency and enjoyment.

It was not an easy task.

The map, a thorough representation of the city and surrounding areas, effectively shows 136 paths, in passable or impassable form, in addition to several trails that run through Tilden Regional Park. Numerous public parks and creeks in the Berkeley vicinity are also shown.

Paul Grunland recalls that there were times when he might have wanted to “throw in the towel” because of the long list of things he and the others had to do: check existing pathway maps with city maps from the 1920s, verify the passability of the paths and make the myriad of decisions regarding the actual production of the map - colors, information, legends, display of streets and so on.

It was the benefit of a pathways map as a public resource that kept he and the other five map committee members of the BPWA going.

Funding for the project came from a few different sources, primarily through member contributions and a grant from the city to publish the map. Upcoming editions of the map will be made possible with “revenue from the sale of the current map,” according to Jacques Ensign, a member of the map committee.

Grunland leads walks along various pathways each month, and gives an excellent narrative given his broad knowledge of the history of the area.

When describing the paths, he tells of a city during the first decade of the century, when Berkeley was uncluttered with automobile traffic, and developers and architects were more visionaries than urban constructors.

“It was a different world,” Grunland said. “The paths were really the result of good planning - by developers who wanted the city to be beautiful. These were really altruistic kinds of people.”

The functionality and beauty of the paths that remain serve as reminders of a period during the area’s unique development.

With regard to the association’s ability to generate public awareness for path reparation and appreciation, District 6 Councilwoman Betty Olds remarked, “They have accomplished something that the city hasn't been able to do in fifty years.”

Olds went on to say that the paths provide an excellent escape route during a disaster like earthquake or fire - events during which a knowledge of the easiest and quickest way to safety would be of great importance.

Lisa Frieden, who joined the group in 1999, was enthusiastic when asked about the process of creating the map. “It was incredible,” she said. “A group of independent people coming together to do a volunteer thing - here we are a year and a half later, and we have this really cool map.”

The proceeds of the map are going to be used to improve existing paths as well as to regain and reclaim the paths for the public. Frieden said that the citizens of Berkeley will now have a reliable resource to lead them through all the parts of the city with ease.

Grunland is pleased that with the map, the efforts are becoming a “high-profile thing.” He said that the association has met one of its main goals.

“The mission is to protect the paths through public knowledge and reverence. . .it’s becoming an enormously effective force,” he said.

As the city puts up pathway signage, and local Boy Scout troops helping with labor, paths that were once defunct are now safe for pedestrians who require handrails and secure steps.

The association’s map committee is already working on revisions for the next edition. At a meeting Saturday, updates to be considered will include the possibility of marking wheelchair access as well as the lesser issues of spelling and layout.

“Minor tweaking,” Grunland said, proud that the first edition came out so well.

Map committee member Ensign said that the second edition will be ready in about six weeks, just in time for the Solano Stroll.

For those who enjoy walking for recreation, transportation, or even for exercise, getting their own copy of the pathways map will be worth the wait.

Regarding street safety, an alternate fix presented itself with the recent sewer replacement work in our neighborhood. While our streets were sand and gravel there was considerably less traffic, and those who tried to speed mostly just redistributed gravel instead of accelerated. As a bicyclist riding on skinny tires, it was inconvenient for me – especially in the sand traps – but pedestrians were real safe.

I don't know the maintenance costs of gravel roads or the runoff problems, but gravel inserts in intersections would slow traffic exactly where pedestrians are supposed to interact with vehicles.

LOS ANGELES — When Clifford Holland died of exhaustion during building of the tunnel linking lower Manhattan and New Jersey, a newspaper in 1924 extolled him as the “martyr engineer.”

Ask people today where the Holland Tunnel got its name and odds are they’re more likely to credit the city’s Dutch roots than the dedicated scientist.

That’s the estimation, at least, of Kenneth Mandel and Daniel B. Polin, filmmakers who give Holland and other should-be famous engineers their due in “Great Projects: The Building of America.”

The four-part PBS documentary pays tribute to their enduring and often graceful work: the roadway, water and utility systems that make up the vast American infrastructure.

Want to appreciate anew marvels that have stood for decades? Watch dramatic footage of the 1940 wind-whipped death of Washington state’s Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an engineering failure that torqued itself apart.

Architects have boosters as lofty as Ayn (“The Fountainhead”) Rand to gush over them; engineers are akin to accountants, ignored until the paper hits the shredder. Mandel, a former engineer, and Polin were intent on showing the sweep and social impact of engineering, and even its romance.

“Great Projects,” airing on consecutive Wednesdays beginning this week (check local listings for times), also focuses on the role that politics played, and play, in the development of the nation.

Narrated by actor Stacy Keach, the documentary begins with “A Tale of Two Rivers” and the projects that tamed the powerful Mississippi and Colorado. A scientist-turned-politician had a hand in both efforts: Herbert Hoover, the rare engineer to serve as U.S. president and for whom Hoover Dam is named.

In “Electric Nation,” airing July 10, the limelight shines on Thomas Edison and his longtime assistant Samuel Insull and on David Lilienthal, who through his work with the Tennessee Valley Authority became a champion of public financing and control of utilities.

“Bridging New York,” on July 17, focuses on two engineers, Gustav Lindenthal and Othmar Ammann, who helped link New York’s terrain over a six-decade period with, among others, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Holland’s tunnel, one of the few projects to carry an engineer’s moniker, also is featured.

The series concludes July 24 with “The Big Dig,” the nickname for a contemporary highway project in Boston that’s attempting to correct what previous builders got wrong by taking a 1950s elevated freeway underground. (The $14 billion project is far above budget and prompted a cost-overrun investigation.)

The Big Dig is in sharp contrast to the past, when America tackled ambitious projects with vigor and, often, disregard for those opposed to them. “Mitigation,” the film says, is the key word for rare new projects like the Big Dig — meeting the objections of residents, environmentalists and others.

Has America, as one newspaper columnist wrote concerning a proposed Southern California mountain tunnel, simply lost the will to move large amounts of dirt?

“I think there’s a fear to embark on major projects, partly because we’ve made it so difficult to build them,” Mandel said in an interview.

As with all the best documentaries, “Great Projects” is rich in historical sights and sounds, including 35mm film of the building of Hoover Dam that was shot by a construction firm and discovered in a university library.

The documentary also is filled with intriguing interviews and reminisces, including one that improbably pairs Donald Trump with the memory of engineer Ammann.

As a youth, Trump attended the 1964 opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and heard politicians and others bask in congratulations while Ammann drew a tip of the hat but wasn’t mentioned by name.

That may have inspired the decision to emblazon his identity on Trump Tower to guard his legacy, the modest developer muses.

Engineers, in contrast, generally emerge as unsung heroes who fail to insist on their place in history.

“I once asked Milton Brumer, one of the engineers who worked for Ammann on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, if he ever thought about how much he was contributing, about how important these bridges were to the future of New York City and America,” said Mandel.

“He looked at me like I was crazy. He said, ’No, we were into production, not reflection,”’ the filmmaker recounted. “I couldn’t think of anything that better sums up the attitudes of engineers. They just do the job.”

Some would welcome a little understanding, if not glory, as Mandel learned after showing “The Big Dig” episode to project employees.

“One of the young guys comes up to me and says, ’I was crying for the whole 60 minutes. I finally can tell my mother what I’m doing in life.”’

St. Mary’s High completed a whirlwind search for a new boys’ head basketball coach on Monday, announcing the hiring of Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) assistant Manuel Nodar.

Nodar, 32, was a coach at Sacred Heart for nine years, including the last two as an assistant on the boys’ varsity squad. He will also teach Spanish at St. Mary’s, the same job held by former coach Jose Caraballo.

“I’m very excited,” Nodar said. “(St. Mary’s) is an excellent program, and I’m looking forward to coaching the program.”

Athletic Director Jay Lawson said Nodar’s interview was the key factor in choosing him from the final four candidates.

“I like the kind of person he is. I was impressed with his interview,” Lawson said. “He’s young and enthusiastic, and we hope that will rub off on the kids.”

The search for a new coach began just two weeks ago, following the surprising resignation of Caraballo, the coach who helped make the Panthers into a state power the past two seasons.

St. Mary’s qualified for North Coast Section play in each of Caraballo’s seven seasons, compiling a 147-67 record. The Panthers won the last two Bay Shore Athletic League titles, going undefeated in league play both years with a 59-8 overall record, and won the Division IV state title in 2001.

“(Caraballo) did something no other coach has done here. He will be missed,” Lawson said.

But Caraballo apparently felt he wasn’t given adequate support as a coach or teacher, and his resignation came at an inopportune time. Assistant Mark Olivier had already decided to accept the head coach job at Hercules High, and most high schools already had their staffs in place. Olivier threw his hat back in the ring for a time and was among the final choices, but the St. Mary’s administration ultimately decided on Nodar, whose experience at Sacred Heart should give him a head start. Both St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart are Lasallian schools, run by the Christian Brothers and the Daughters of Charity.

“He fits everything we’re trying to do,” Lawson said of Nodar. “He’s a gem of a coach who we hope will stay with us for a very long time.”

Sacred Heart Cathedral won 49 games over the last two seasons, were co-champions of the West Catholic Athletic League last season and won the Central Coast Section crown before falling to league rival and eventual state champion Archbishop Riordan in the Northern California finals.

Lawson said Nodar will continue to use the Panthers’ all-out style of play, although they could struggle after the graduation of star guards John Sharper and DeShawn Freeman, both of whom will play at Division I colleges next season.

“We feel he’s a real good man,” St. Mary’s athletic director Jay Lawson said. “He believes in everything we’re trying to teach our student-athletes and he’ll fit in real well. He runs an up-tempo, pressing style we like. He’s real positive in his teaching, very organized and has a lot of energy.”

Lawson also said the administration met with most of the returning players and all of the students intend to stay at St. Mary’s despite the departure of Caraballo.

Landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy may have pleaded guilty to various felonies including tax evasion and the importation of minors for illegal sexual activity but his holdings in the city of Berkeley and his net worth have apparently not been marred by his transgressions.

“They may have convicted him but they did not take away his property,” said Michael Caplan of Neighborhood Services for Berkeley. “The two issues are unrelated. It’s my guess that he owns a fair percentage of all the available housing in the entire city, and that he is still worth upwards of $50 million.”

An inconclusive search with property records showed that Reddy currently has at least 20 properties in the city of Berkeley, some individually assessed at $665,000. It is believed, however, that the Reddy family owns far more than what has come up in this property records search.

The realty company works with various property managers that often serve as liaisons between the family and renters, according to Caplan.

Last year, the Rent Stabilization Board sent letters to various Reddy Realty tenants, making them aware of their rights.

“He’s the not the worst slum lord in the city, but he has a pretty bad history,” said Paul Hogarth of the Rent Stabilization Board. “So the rent board sent out letters to all Reddy’s tenants informing them of their rights because Reddy has had such a problem with the habitability of his properties.”

Hogarth went on to say that cynically, one could probably guess how many properties were owned by Reddy just by looking.

“It’s very easy to find out which properties are Reddy properties. They’re the ones that are painted pink,” said Paul Hogarth of the Rent Stabilization Board.

Officially, however, the city appears to be able to divulge very little about the current property holdings of Reddy Realty.

“We are very limited as to how much information we can release,” said a spokesperson of Berkeley’s property records division. “Not that much of this information is open to the public.”

Reddy, a 63-year-old multimillionaire property owner pleaded guilty on March, 7, 2001 to various charges after a young female tenant of one of his apartment units died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty heating unit.

A subsequent investigation into the woman’s death opened Reddy up to tax evasion, immigration fraud and importation of minors into the United States for illegal sexual activity convictions.

Though various victims in the case say that Reddy was also guilty of rape and statutory rape charges in this case, he was not convicted on these charges.

Reddy’s attorney George Cotsirilos was unavailable yesterday for a comment.

It's fine that Bush called for the Palestinians to democratically elect new leaders, but what if Arafat made the same demand on the United States? The hypocrisy of a president who was selected, even though he had half a million fewer votes than his opponent, is not lost on the rest of the world. We need election reform in our own country; eliminate the electoral college. Each person's vote should count equally.

Assuring increased exposure for its men’s basketball program, the University of California has reached a one-year agreement with KFRC Radio (610 AM, San Francisco) to provide live coverage of the team’s games during the 2002-03 season.

The joint announcement was made by Bob Rose, Executive Associate Athletic Director, Communications at Cal, and Earnest L. James, Vice President and General Manager of KFRC.

“We are extremely pleased to finalize this agreement,” said Rose. “KFRC is a legendary station in the Bay Area with a signal that will increase our audience considerably. Cal basketball fans as far north as Sacramento and as far south as Monterey now will be able to tune in to our broadcasts. Considering the steady ascent of Ben Braun’s basketball program in recent years, we believe this partnership with KFRC could not have come at a better time.”

“KFRC is truly excited to enter into this association with one of this country’s great universities,” said James. “We have been very impressed with the new Cal athletic administration and feel that both parties will benefit greatly in this new partnership. We look forward to carrying these games to the many Golden Bear sports fans in Northern California.”

Under the agreement, KFRC will air 28 regular-season games and all possible postseason contests this season. In addition, each broadcast will feature 20-minute pre-game and post-game shows.

The station will also provide additional promotion for Cal basketball during the season. As part of the deal, KFRC will air weekly promotional spots, a special “Cal Bears Replay of the Game” feature on the station’s next “J.D. and Cammy Morning Show,” and a Cal coach’s show each Tuesday.

“KFRC is undoubtedly a powerful marketing vehicle,” added Rose. “Earnest James and I believe we can both grow our audiences with this new association. Needless to say, we are absolutely delighted to welcome KFRC into the Cal athletic family.”

The Bears, who open the 2002-03 regular season at New Mexico Nov. 23, return three starters from last year’s 23-9 club, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

About 1,000 shells of pyrotechnics are ready to be shot into the sky at the Berkeley Marina where more than 40,000 people are expected to gather tomorrow. The $10,000, 25-minute firework display comes as the pinnacle of the city’s seven-year tradition of food, games and celestial explosions on the Fourth of July.

This year’s celebration, though, is bound to be a little different in light of the current international climate, Berkeley residents say.

“This is our first chance to celebrate our country since Sept. 11 and people are looking for a good way to do it,” said assistant fire Chief David Orth. “I think we’re seeing a lot more patriotism.”

Other Berkeley leaders said the same.

“I’ve been invited to more barbecues this year and I think it’s because people want to pull closer together,” said Kriss Worthington, a city councilmember.

One thing that the rapidly changing because of politics is Berkeley’s fireworks display, which has run for more than 20 years. The show is put on by Rialto-based Pyro Spectaculars Souza, producer of the world’s largest Macy’s show in New York City, as well as the neighboring San Francisco fireworks show, and hailed by pyrotechnics as the best west of the Mississippi River.

Unlike the larger shows, the Berkeley show is hand-fired, meaning it has a more homespun approach, said Pyro Spectacular show manager Jeff Thomas. Instead shooting the fireworks automatically from a queue, a person will light each of almost 1,000 shells.

The perilous job of lighting the shells and then standing back to let them blow out of a firing tube is performed only by experts, Thomas assured.

Sounding more like a gardener than a pyrotechnician, Thomas described various segments of the show. Palm tree shells fire a branching stream of light. Peonies shoot a simple but colorful stream of fire. And chrysanthemums are one of the most elegant explosions of all.

Thomas said his favorite firework is called the Brocade Kamuro shell. It’s a big, lingering, umbrella-like explosion he called the “crown jewel of the show.”

A clear sky is important to the success of the show, Berkeley’s Waterfront Manager Cliff Marchetti said while sounding a little nervous because of the recent fog over San Francisco Bay.

“I haven’t had a bad firework display in at least six years,” he said. “You could always see the show.”

Before the fireworks start, among the day’s performers are the nine-member Troupe Tangiers belly dancers who will perform a variety of North African dances. One dance will involve balancing a 12-pound brass tray on each of their heads. Another will enlist water jugs. All dances showcase the rhythmic rolling of the stomach.

Lessard said that her ability to perform tomorrow reminds her that she is free in this country to express her culture.

Along with the belly dancers will be musical acts, puppet shows, free boat rides and more than 100 food and art vendors. Events start at noon.

“It’s a celebration of a very diverse community,” said event organizer Lisa Bullwinkel. “It’s truly representative of what America is all about.”

Berkeley police and firefighters are taking recent FBI warnings about terrorism seriously and will stage a presence at the Berkeley event.

In addition, police will screen for fireworks and alcoholic beverages at checkpoints at entrances to the Berkeley Marina.

“In past years, it’s been relatively quiet in Berkeley,” said Assistant Fire Chief Orth. “However, there is usually at least one house fire in the East Bay because of rockets landing on wood roofs.”

Yes, it’s one of those dirty little secrets: Section 8 units and buildings are not subject to routine inspections and Section 8 tenants haven’t been able to get consideration of their requests for inspections. Furthermore, not all tenant-based Section 8 units and buildings are “city-funded,” i.e. administered by the local housing authority. Some are project-based, operated by corporations. This is a matter that needs to be taken to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

COLUMBIA, MO – Cal head coach Diane Ninemire, assistant coaches John Reeves and Kim Maher, and student assistant Pauline Duenas have been named the 2002 Speedline/NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year.

Ninemire and her staff guided California to its first-ever national championship as the Golden Bears defeated defending champion Arizona 6-0 in the title game of the Women’s College World Series. The Golden Bears compiled an 8-0 record in post-season play, posting wins over Fresno State, Stanford and Cal State Fullerton at the Fresno Regional, then sweeping through the WCWS with wins over Oklahoma, Florida State, Arizona State and Arizona. California became the first Pac-10 team other than Arizona or UCLA to win the Women’s College World Series.

The California staff was selected by its peers as the Speedline Division I Pacific Region Coaching Staff of the Year and was then placed on the national coaching staff of the year ballot. They will be recognized as the 2002 Speedline/NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year at the NFCA National Convention in St. Petersburg, Florida, in December.

Cal assistant Miller named to USAstaff for World Championships

California assistant coach Ed Miller was named a United States assistant coach for the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Athletics Aug. 22-31, in Paris, France.

Miller, one of seven individuals selected to head men’s coach Bubba Thornton’s staff, will coach the throws and the multi-events.

In 1989, Miller served as the Olympic Festival team coach in Norman, Okla., and he is currently a member of the USATF’s Men’s Track and Field and Men’s Development Committees.

The former Golden Bear recently completed his 19th season as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He has coached a number of outstanding athletes at Cal, including 1996 and 2000 Olympian Chris Huffins and 1996 Olympian Ramon Jimenez-Gaona.

Minnesota gets probation, avoids shutdown

MINNEAPOLIS – The NCAA hit Minnesota with two more years of probation on Tuesday, for rule-breaking in the women’s basketball program, but spared the school harsher penalties.

The women’s basketball team will forfeit a scholarship in each of the two seasons, and recruiting will be trimmed back. The NCAA declined to shut down the program for two years, which was a possibility under the NCAA’s repeat violator rule, and didn’t ban the Gophers from postseason play.

Minnesota already was serving four years’ probation for academic cheating uncovered in the men’s program in 1999. Tuesday’s action extends the probation until October 2006.

The Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association resolved a tense, four-month fight over electing a new leadership team Monday night, appointing retired San Jose State professor Joan Edelstein to the vacant president’s post and naming several other high-level officers.

The source of the tension is not Edelstein, who receives widespread praise, but PTSA auditor and school board candidate Cynthia Papermaster.

“She makes everybody’s life miserable,” said one PTSA member, who asked to remain anonymous. “I think it would be a disaster if she were at the level of the school board.”

But Papermaster says the critics are all longtime members of the organization who are just upset because she worked to shake up the PTSA leadership, creating a diverse team that would attract the entire school community.

“I have bumped into people who want to hold fast to tradition,” she said. “Sometimes change is hard.”

The conflict began in April. Papermaster, who also serves as parliamentarian for the districtwide PTA Council, an umbrella group for all PTAs, pushed Berkeley High PTSA to hold elections for next year’s officers this spring, in accordance with its bylaws, rather than wait for the fall, as it has done in recent years.

Some PTSA members argue that Papermaster was too aggressive in pushing for spring elections.

“She came in inappropriately,” said former PTSA President Cindy Cohen. “It was simply, ‘this is what you should do.’ She wasn’t even willing to have a dialogue about doing it any other way.”

“Did I alienate some people? Yes,” said Papermaster. “But that was a byproduct of my desire to help the PTA function properly.”

“Cynthia is a well-meaning person and not one time did she say anything that is untrue,” said Lee Berry, who was named PTSA Executive Vice President Monday night. “I have no knock on Cynthia. I love Cynthia to death.”

Papermaster pushed for an official nominating committee, which sought out candidates in May, and the PTSA held elections June 4. At that meeting, the group elected parent activist Virgus Streets president, but he subsequently declined the election.

Streets’s resignation made necessary the Monday night meeting and the Edelstein appointment.

Papermaster said her work on the nominating committee helped bring in a larger, more diverse group of leaders, including Berry and another black member of the PTSA board.

“I’m coming from a position of supporting and helping the PTAs to function so they are strong and inclusive and diverse,” she said.

Even some critics credit Papermaster with increasing PTSA diversity.

But detractors say Papermaster has a habit of stirring up unnecessary controversy – a habit, they say, that would not serve her well on the board.

“Everywhere I go, she’s been driving people crazy,” said one PTSA member.

“There are gadflies who are healthy,” said another PTSA member. “But Cynthia seems to need to be at the center of a storm, for reasons I can’t understand.”

Papermaster said she only attracts criticism because she is “an agent of change.”

In the end, she said, the PTSA has emerged with a committed, diverse leadership. Her critics agree.

“I could not be more happy,” said Cohen, praising the entire board, and especially Edelstein. “She’s very skilled.”

“We’ve all agreed to put aside any personal differences in order to work for the good of the parents, students and teachers,” Edelstein said.

The media frenzy regarding the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance has been an embarrassment. Where is the sober reporting of facts and informed commentary that viewers so desperately need, especially in the midst of a controversy?

Within hours of the court ruling the U.S. Senate condemned the decision, the President declared it “ridiculous,” and the members of the House defiantly recited the pledge in front of hoards of news cameras.

Meanwhile, news commentators were voicing their opinions and pollers were pounding the pavement. Are we to believe that all those who are sworn to represent the people and report the hard facts had actually read and digested the 32-page decision and were informed enough to make these decisions in so short a time?

Upon closer review of the court’s actual decision, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is not declared illegal. However, the California statute requiring teachers to lead the compulsory recitation each day is. For those who believe this is unprecedented, it is important to note that the court reached a similar decision in 1943, declaring the compulsory recitation a violation of the First Amendment.

Unlike the oaths taken in courtrooms across the country, there is no alternate pledge in schools without the words “under God.” And though the U.S. currency contains the words “In God we Trust” – which does seem out of place on money, of all things – no one is forced to pledge those words every time he or she receives or spends money. And if any member of Congress feels that his or her rights are being violated by having to recite a prayer before each session – which has always seemed out of place to me in a supposedly secular government – then he or she has the right to take the issue up at the next session.

What is at issue here is not only the separation of church and state, but the freedom of conscience. A state cannot force its citizens to say or do anything that goes against his or her conscience. Freedom of conscience is at the heart of all our most precious freedoms. If only our fearless and overzealous leaders had taken the time to read the court’s decision, perhaps they would have realized this. But they forgot that leading doesn’t always mean speaking or taking action before anyone else. Sometimes it requires actually thinking first.

A proposal to develop community gardens and a nonprofit plant nursery in the San Pablo Park neighborhood is expected to be submitted to the Berkeley City Council in time for possible consideration July 9.

The proposal asks City Council to start negotiating a lease with Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency’s Urban Garden Institute, which wants to use two vacant parcels in the southwest flatlands near the intersection of Sacramento and Oregon streets.

The undeveloped lots are part of the old Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way.

This partnership between the Urban Gardening Institute (BUGI) and Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) was recently awarded a $300,000 Community Food Projects Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand local programs.

The USDA grant, which can be used through September 2003, would cover $50,000 in initial costs for fencing, developing the garden, an electrical line, irrigation and miscellaneous expenses. Two other federal grants totaling $83,900 would cover staff expenses.

BOSS also expects to generate revenues from plant sales.

Final approval will require posting notices in the neighborhood for a public hearing. Approvals and permits for the project are needed from the City Council, Zoning Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission, before BOSS can convert the grassy parcels to community gardens and a seedling nursery for the public and Bay Area farmers.

The proposal was skimmed through and discussed for one hour on June 27, before receiving the endorsement of the San Pablo Neighborhood Council. A total of 444 nearby residents have signed petitions in support of creating community gardens, which have been forwarded to the City Council.

Other groups supporting the plan include the Russell Oregon California Streets Neighborhood Association, West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corp., The Ecology Center, Berkeley Food Policy Council and the Alameda County Community Food Bank, said Daniel Miller, project director at the BOSS Urban Gardening Institute.

“I think this is going to be a slam dunk,” said Linda Maio, councilmember representing District 1. Maio had been considering the feasibility of using one of the parcels to build affordable housing, but changed her mind after meeting with representatives of BOSS.

“I’m probably one of the biggest supporters of the project now,” added Maio. “I’m a big gardening advocate, particularly when it’s linked to jobs and economic survival.”

BUGI provides vocational job training in horticulture for people in transition from homelessness and drug abuse. Participants learn how to grow food and how to find or create their own employment. The group already grows organic foods distributed free to homeless shelters and low-income residents. Free job training classes and a computer lab are offered at the organization’s offices at 2880 Sacramento St.

BUGI wants more space to expand job-training programs and raise money through sales of native plants and herbs. BOSS offers about 18 free classes annually. “We don’t have enough space to do what we want to do,” Miller said.

Project plans include an outdoor classroom, greenhouse, shade-house, water gardens, a small orchard, benches and a pathway connecting Oregon Street with Sojourner Court for a possible future bicycle path. The gardens would be fenced and gated for security with daytime staff seven days a week and kept locked at night, Miller said.

BOSS now provides social services for more than 3,500 people annually at 27 locations in Alameda County. In 2001, BOSS traded 12,873 lettuce, tomato and celery seedlings in exchange for food served at shelters. Firme Farms of Justine, Calif. benefited because it didn’t have to lay out cash for plantings prior to harvest.

BUGI presently maintains two community gardens in Berkeley. One grows adjacent to the tool library on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, between Russell and Oregon streets. A second garden called the Harrison House Shelter Garden is situated near the corner of Fourth Street at 711 Harrison St.

Two other community gardens are managed by the BOSS partnership in Oakland, the 59th Garden between Market and Adeline streets and the California Hotel Community Garden, behind 3501 San Pablo Ave.

Mike Dinoffria
Special to the Daily Planet
Mike Dinoffria, Special to the Daily Planet

Wednesday July 03, 2002

Listeners of KPFA are raising money to help pay for an emergency, vision-saving procedure for the station’s longtime producer and contributor Mary Berg.

Last week Berg was told she needed an expensive eye surgery, but was without health insurance. Members of the radio community came to her side and to make the procedure possible by temporarily footing the bill.

“It is heartwarming that the KPFA community stepped up on such short notice, so generously and decisively,” said Phil Osegueda, KPFA’s assistant general manager. Now the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica has started raising funds to pay that bill.

Two weeks ago Berg was experiencing some difficulty with her vision. She was seeing random, bright flashes and obstructive floating bodies.

She went to see a doctor last Tuesday, and was diagnosed with a detached retina. The doctor said she would need to undergo a sclera bucket surgery immediately if she were to continue to see.

Because she did not having health insurance she had to pay $14,000 before the hospital would go forward with the surgery.

The KPFA community came to her rescue.

“I was really lucky,” Berg said. “I had friends and KPFA came to my support.”

The fund to help Berg is being conducted through the Agape Foundation. A benefit is planned July 21.

Berg has been working at KPFA since the late 70s. KPFA listeners know her as the host and producer of “A Musical Offering,” a radio show that airs early on Sundays, 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. KPFA advisory board member Lewis Sawyer said Berg is a tireless worker and that her involvement with the station is unmatched.

At KPFA Berg is a volunteer. She supports herself while working as a sound and editing free-lancer.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research estimates that 4.5 million California residents younger than 64 are uninsured.

DONATIONS

To help pay for Mary Berg’s eye surgery money can be sent to the Coalition for a democratic Pacifica (CdP), PO Box 2813, Berkeley, 94702

SAN FRANCISCO – Federal prosecutors announced today that a San Francisco man has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for selling baseball bats he claimed had been used in major league games by All-Star shortstops Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra.

Herbert Derungs, 32, pleaded guilty to six counts of mail and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to sell baseball bats on eBay between April and December 2001 that he claimed had been used by the two sluggers. He also admitted to fraudulently obtaining the bats from The Original Maple Bat Co. based in Ottawa by claiming to be Jeter and Garciaparra.

In addition to the prison term imposed Monday, U.S. District Court Judge James Ware prohibited Derungs from coming within 1,000 feet of Pacific Bell Park upon his release in connection with a threatening e-mail he had sent to a ballpark employee.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Nadel said Derungs obtained 64 bats from The Original Maple Bat Co. and sold 22 of them for more than $23,000.

Nadel, head of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office, said authorities are devoting more resources than ever to fighting high technology-related crime.

Companies or individuals who believe they may be victims of high-tech crime are encouraged to contact Nadel at (408) 535-5035.

Billions of dollars in trade>are at stake; lockout wouldcut flow of goods across nation

SAN FRANCISCO — Shipping companies and dock workers agreed that goods will continue to move through West Coast ports for now after deciding to extend their contract on a “day-to-day” basis, giving federal officials and businesses across the country a brief reprieve from fear of the economic impact of a strike or lockout.

Both sides negotiated through a Monday contract expiration deadline, and both sides promised not to force an immediate labor disruption.

Billions of dollars in trade are at stake, and a strike or lockout would cut off the flow of goods that enter the nation’s 29 major Pacific ports and move to store shelves across the nation.

The union representing 10,500 longshoremen who work the docks has not voted to authorize a strike. The shippers’ association, meanwhile, has promised not to lock out the dock workers — unless they stage a work slowdown.

“We have an enormous responsibility to negotiate an agreement without any work interruption on the waterfront,” said Joseph Miniace, president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Maritime Association.

The contract expired at 5 p.m. Monday — 10 minutes before that deadline, the two sides reconvened at their San Francisco bargaining table for the first time since Saturday.

Both sides concluded the evening by agreeing to extend the contract on a “day-to-day” basis and to resume talks Tuesday at 2 p.m. PDT, according to a statement from the association.

A union spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

During the last round of negotiations in 1999, the deadline came and went, longshoremen kept working, and two weeks later the two sides settled.

The three-year contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the shippers’ association covers all America’s major Pacific ports, from San Diego to Seattle. Last year, longshoremen handled $260 billion in cargo, according to the association.

With the association expecting that value to double as trade with Asia surges over the next decade, West Coast ports are a linchpin of the nation’s economic prosperity. A shutdown would send a shiver through the economy, especially since many holiday-time products are imported over the summer and ever-leaner U.S. firms have slimmed inventories to keep costs down.

“Can you imagine what would happen to America if there were no stuff in the malls?” asked Stephen Cohen, a University of California, Berkeley professor of regional planning who studied the economic impact of a port closure for the shippers’ association. “They should stick these guys at Camp David or Guantanamo Bay and settle it.”

Cohen cited numbers that a port shut down of five days would cost the economy about $4.7 billion, while a 20-day shut down would cost $48.6 billion.

“Hopefully, they realize the national implications of the dispute,” said Lawrence Fineran, a vice president at the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, which has sent letters of concern to the White House and several cabinet departments.

With so much at stake, the White House has said it’s watching, and federal lawmakers have petitioned both sides to keep the ports open.

Even were one side to quit negotiations, under federal law President Bush can block a strike and impose an 80-day cooling-off period. The Labor Department, which has a representative monitoring the discussions, declined comment Monday.

The union spent Monday preparing a counter proposal to shippers’ Saturday offer, a package that a union spokesman described as “an offer that was designed to be rejected.”

“First they offered us nothing but cutbacks” in benefits and pensions, said union spokesman Steve Stallone. “Now they’re offering us peanuts. That’s how much it’s moved.”

association spokesman said Monday night that

Negotiations have stalled over benefits and how to bring new cargo-handling technology to the ports, according to both sides.

Shippers say they need to automate the ports to compete more efficiently in the global economy.

Union leaders say they’re not against modernization — as long as new technology doesn’t take the place of manpower.

“Ever since computers were brought to the docks, they’ve tried to outsource our jobs,” said spokesman Steve Stallone.

Shippers promise that modernization isn’t a code word for layoffs and promise that no union job will be lost.

Union officials also say shippers are trying to cut their health benefits and gut the grievance process. Shippers say their offers keep the union’s health package the envy of the working class.

Wages are also at issue. A longshoreman’s $80,000 average annual salary for full-time dock work rises to a $167,000 average for the most experienced foremen.

LOS ANGELES — After nearly four years of acquisitions that propelled Northrop Grumman Corp. from an endangered company in 1998 to the nation’s second-largest defense contractor, the company may be done growing — at least for now.

After four months of wrangling, Northrop on Monday announced its deal to buy TRW Inc. for $7.8 billion in stock. Northrop also will assume about $4 billion in TRW debt.

Government regulators wounded Northrop 1998 when regulators rejected a proposed merger with Lockheed Martin Corp. Instead of breaking itself up, it regrouped and transformed itself from an aircraft company into a diversified defense giant, specializing in high-tech computer warfare and surveillance systems.

With its purchase of Litton Industries in 2001 and last year’s acquisition of Newport News Shipbuilding, it also became the nation’s largest shipbuilder.

“I think they are probably pretty satisfied with where they are at this point,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst with JSA Research. “I would have said after the first shipbuilding company that they would rest for a while and they’ve done two or three things since.”

With TRW, the company becomes a major maker of high-tech unmanned surveillance vehicles, spy satellites, computer software and other equipment central to America’s war on terrorism.

The company, which will maintain its Los Angeles headquarters, now makes Global Hawk unmanned surveillance planes, which have been used in Afghanistan, as well as the kind of database management systems vital to linking information housed on the computers of various intelligence agencies.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In an unprecedented statement, the Afghan government demanded Tuesday that the United States take “all necessary measures” to avoid civilian casualties following an air attack in which scores of villagers died.

U.S. troops who inspected the hospital in Kandahar where some of the wounded had been taken came under fire late Tuesday as they were returning to the American base outside the city, U.S. military spokesman Col. Roger King said. One soldier was wounded in the foot, he added.

In Kabul, the government said President Hamid Karzai “called officials and commanders of the United States forces to his office and strongly advised them of the grave concern and sorrow” over Monday’s attack in Uruzgan province, in which the Afghans say 40 civilians were killed and 100 were wounded.

The statement said Karzai, who relied on U.S. support for his rise to power, insisted that coalition forces “take all necessary measures to ensure that military activities to capture terrorist groups do not harm innocent Afghan civilians.”

Circumstances of the attack remain unclear; a joint U.S.-Afghan team was unable to reach the site Tuesday.

U.S. officials insist American forces were attacking a legitimate target using a B-52 bomber and an AC-130 gunship. Pentagon officials said it appeared gunfire, rather than an errant bomb dropped by the United States, was responsible for the deaths. An AC-130 can fire Gatling guns, cannons and 105 mm howitzers.

At the Pentagon, Gen. Peter Pace said Tuesday a U.S. AC-130 gunship in the vicinity fired on “six individual locations that were spread over many kilometers.” Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said it was too early to determine what happened.

Despite the uncertainty, Afghan officials were convinced the United States was to blame for what they believe is the latest in a series of “friendly fire” mishaps. It was the first time Afghan authorities at the national level have issued such a strong statement after such an incident.

Neither Afghan nor U.S. authorities have calculated Afghanistan’s civilian death toll in the war. Although estimates have placed the civilian dead in the thousands, a review earlier this year by The Associated Press suggests the toll may be in the mid-hundreds, a figure reached by examining hospital records, visiting bomb sites and interviewing witnesses and officials.

In the capital, Foreign Minister Abdullah said coalition military operations against al-Qaida and Taliban should continue but the rules for launching attacks “should be reviewed to avoid such incidents.”

Abdullah said four villages were attacked early Monday around the hamlet of Kakarak about 175 miles southwest of Kabul. He said 40 civilians were killed — including all 25 members of one family — and 100 people were injured, including celebrants at a wedding.

“Strong measures have to be taken to avoid such further incidents,” he said.

Karzai met in Kabul on Tuesday with the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill. Afterward, McNeill said he and Karzai had differing accounts of what had happened, but he would not elaborate.

“It is not part of the parameters of this coalition to attack innocents,” McNeill said at Bagram air base north of Kabul.

In London, Amnesty International called on the United States to release the findings of any investigation, saying: “U.S.-led forces should take sufficient precautions to protect civilians in selecting military objectives.”

The strong reaction by the Afghan government reflects the pressure on Karzai from his fellow Pashtuns who live in areas where U.S. military operations are continuing more than six months after the defeat of the Taliban regime.

However, Abdullah, the foreign minister, said the government had “no doubts” that U.S. forces were “targeting terrorists” and had received information that al-Qaida forces were in the area. Afghan officials say Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of the Taliban, may be hiding in the area.

However, some survivors said they were looking to Karzai to prevent them from getting caught in the cross fire.

“Karzai himself should take charge of the investigation,” said Shawali, whose wife Shabibi was wounded Monday.

He spoke at this southern hospital where many of the wounded were brought for treatment. Five U.S. medical officers visited the hospital Tuesday to determine whether they could treat the casualties. After leaving the hospital, the Americans were fired on about 1 1/2 miles outside the city.

Afghan military escorts returned fire but it was not known if the attackers suffered any casualties.

KALGOORLIE, Australia — American adventurer Steve Fossett drifted into aviation history Tuesday, becoming the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world.

Flying through the darkness 27,000 feet above the ocean south of Australia in his silvery Spirit of Freedom balloon, Fossett crossed east of 117 degrees longitude, the line from which he set off two weeks ago.

The 58-year-old Chicago investment millionaire covered 19,428.6 miles by the time he crossed the finish line, according to his Web site, finally succeeding in his sixth attempt at the record.

“It is a wonderful time for me,” Fossett, sounding calm, said over satellite telephone. “Finally after six flights I have succeeded and it is a very satisfying experience.”

Fossett doesn’t plan to call it quits. He says his next possible adventure will be to fly a glider into the stratosphere to above 60,000 feet. He didn’t discuss the details of that mission.

With weather largely on his side throughout this trip, Fossett finally completed the nonstop feat after five previous, crash-plagued attempts spread over more than six years, conquering one of aviation’s last barriers.KALGOORLIE, Australia — American adventurer Steve Fossett drifted into aviation history Tuesday, becoming the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world.

Flying through the darkness 27,000 feet above the ocean south of Australia in his silvery Spirit of Freedom balloon, Fossett crossed east of 117 degrees longitude, the line from which he set off two weeks ago.

The 58-year-old Chicago investment millionaire covered 19,428.6 miles by the time he crossed the finish line, according to his Web site, finally succeeding in his sixth attempt at the record.

“It is a wonderful time for me,” Fossett, sounding calm, said over satellite telephone. “Finally after six flights I have succeeded and it is a very satisfying experience.”

Fossett doesn’t plan to call it quits. He says his next possible adventure will be to fly a glider into the stratosphere to above 60,000 feet. He didn’t discuss the details of that mission.

With weather largely on his side throughout this trip, Fossett finally completed the nonstop feat after five previous, crash-plagued attempts spread over more than six years, conquering one of aviation’s last barriers.

NEW YORK— A longtime organizer of cultural events in Lower Manhattan was appointed Tuesday to oversee creation of a memorial to victims of the World Trade Center attack.

Anita Contini, 58, a vice president for global sponsorships and events marketing for Merrill Lynch, will be vice president and director of memorial, cultural and civic programs for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the city-state agency charged with rebuilding the area.

The size and location of the monument to the more than 2,800 victims of the Sept. 11 attack has been a contentious issue, with some relatives wanting the entire 16-acre site to become a memorial. On Saturday, Gov. George Pataki promised there would be no commercial development on the one-acre patches each tower occupied.

“I know that there are many viewpoints and different views,” Contini said.

Before joining Merrill Lynch in 1999, Contini directed the arts and events program at the World Financial Center since 1986. In 1973, she founded Creative Time Inc., a nonprofit arts organization,

The Board of Education unanimously approved the 2002-2003 budget despite fears that the county will reject the district’s financial plan for a second straight year.

“I find it very difficult to vote for this budget,” said board member Ted Schultz during the board’s meeting last week.

Earlier this year, the board approved heavy layoffs and chopped millions of dollars from the system. But the final budget still includes a $2.8 million shortfall.

Last week the board approved the broad outlines of a fiscal recovery plan for next year that it hopes will close the gap. The plan includes solvency for a troubled cafeteria fund, the possibility of further staff reductions and, as a last resort, the sale of district property.

The county has 45 days to accept the budget and the fiscal recovery plan.

Alameda County Superintendent Sheila Jordan, who will have final say, at the meeting last Wednesday praised the district for making difficult cuts earlier this year. She commended officials for working closely with the county and with the state-run Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team [FCMAT], an agency the board appointed after last year’s budget was rejected.

Jordan is optimistic that the county office of education will approve the 2002-2003 budget.

“My hope is that we’ll be able to pass it with a list of what needs to happen,” she said. “If it’s not passed, it’s not necessarily a terrible thing either.”

If Jordan rejects the budget, the district will have 45 days to address the county’s concerns.

Jordan said that while the county has not yet reviewed the final budget, its two primary concerns are the $2.8 million deficit and a recovery plan that is too general.

If the county rejects the budget, Jordan said, it will likely ask for a more detailed recovery plan and could require the district to make additional cuts within the 45-day window.

Schultz praised the staff for producing a budget during difficult circumstances, but said he had trouble approving the document because it provided a poor estimate of state and federal funding for the district and was difficult to decipher.

“It’s really lacking in the clarity area,” Schultz said. “I wish the county luck in figuring it out.”

Joel Montero, FCMAT deputy executive director, acknowledged the shortcomings identified by Schultz, but said the staff had done an admirable job considering that FCMAT, which started working in the district in October, asked the district to change its entire budgeting process in a matter of months.

HACKENSACK, N.J. — There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Vincent Strignile found out the hard way.

Eight years of allegedly eating free meals could land him in prison for 10 years if he’s convicted of official misconduct charges.

Strignile, 53, a part-time health inspector in Saddle Brook, allegedly ate free meals at more than a dozen restaurants that he was responsible for inspecting.

Ike Gavzy, an assistant county prosecutor, said Strignile allegedly accepted the meals from January 1993 until he was arrested in March 2001.

Authorities began investigating Strignile when a restaurant owner complained that the inspector had refused to pay his bill and conducted inspections that were “cursory at best,” Gavzy said. After Strignile was arrested, authorities received several more complaints.

“On many occasions, he would say, ‘I’m the health inspector; I don’t pay,”’ Gavzy said last week.

Whiz bag grosses out court

PACIFIC, Wash. — There was no way to maintain order in the court when testimony turned to the Whizzinator, an artificial body part worn in an effort to pass urine drug tests.

Snickering arose Thursday as community corrections officer Nadine Wallace told Judge Stephen L. Rochon about confiscating the contraption, which is designed to be worn as an undergarment and includes a hidden bag for holding drug-free urine.

“Occasionally the court needs a little comic relief, but this is just unbelievable,” Rochon said.

Wallace said she also seized illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia June 14 when Jason Smith, 24, was arrested at his home in Auburn.

Smith, who pleaded guilty last year to possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license, was accused of failing to meet probation requirements, including drug treatment and random drug tests.

When he read a promise that the device is reusable, Rochon said, “It just simply grosses the court out.”

One nation under dog

SARASOTA, Fla. — The newest candidate challenging Secretary of State Katherine Harris in her bid for Congress is truly an underdog: a border collie mix.

Percy the dog is running as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary, said his owner and campaign manager, Wayne Genthner.

Genthner is offering up his canine candidate as both satire and as a protest against the political establishment.

“No one has a realistic expectation that a dog can get elected,” Genthner said last week. “But plenty of people will be willing to vote for a dog to represent their discontent with the political system.”

Since your June 25 article on the District 8 city council race interviewed only two of the three candidates, but not the best one, please let me give your readers some good reasons to support Gordon Wozniak.

Gordon has extensive experience on three different and crucial city commissions. He has managed to transcend the usual boundaries in Berkeley politics in order to find creative solutions to difficult problems. He tackled the budget as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission and was able to work out a new approach. It saved the Parks budget and increased the funding for our local parks without increasing the tax rate, by requiring that Measure A funds could only be spent on parks. He brought science and logic to the often emotional arguments of the Community Environmental Advisory Commission and won the respect of many of his fellow commissioners, moving up to the rank of vice chairman. He is currently a member of the Planning Commission and is successfully balancing the need for more affordable housing with protection of existing neighborhoods. Gordon is committed to working on the city’s and District 8’s toughest issues: traffic and pedestrian safety, parks and open space, housing and improving our roads and sewers. He would bring an intelligent, calm and independent voice to the City Council. It is time for Berkeley to move beyond the old politics that have paralyzed the city for 30 years. Gordon Wozniak could help open a new era of cooperative and independent thinking in Berkeley politics.

DENVER — Jeff Kent hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning as the San Francisco Giants rallied for an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

Colorado led 6-5 after eight innings, but closer Jose Jimenez (2-5) hit leadoff hitter David Bell and Ramon Martinez followed with a single.

Kent then hit Jimenez’s first pitch to left field for his 14th of the season.

Kent had three hits and is 13-for-24 with 15 RBIs since moving from cleanup to the third spot in the lineup five days ago.

Colorado has lost six of seven after winning five straight. The Giants have won four of six.

Felix Rodriguez (3-4) didn’t allow a hit in one inning to pick up the victory. Robb Nen worked a perfect ninth to earn his 22nd save.

Reggie Sanders, who stranded six runners in the Giants’ 7-0 loss to Oakland Sunday, had a two-run triple in the first after Colorado’s Terry Shumpert took a bad angle on a line drive to left.

Larry Walker answered with a three-run homer in the bottom half, a 455-foot shot to the second deck in rigrun on second with none out in the seventh, but Justin Speier struck out Barry Bonds and got a pair of fly outs to right.

Bonds finished 0-for-4 and walked once.

Colorado’s Juan Pierre had three hits to end a 2-for-24 slump.

Colorado starter Shawn Chacon allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 1-3 innings. Chacon also had a single and scored a run.

San Francisco starter Kirk Rueter allowed six runs — four earned — on eight hits in six innings. He is 1-4 since winning six straight and hasn’t won since June 4. Notes: Giants 1B J.T. Snow, who missed two games with turf toe, was a defensive replacement in the ninth. ... Walker is 11-for-26 in his career against Rueter.... Bonds was walked intentionally for the 38th time this season in the fifth inning. The major league record is 45, set by Willie McCovey in 1969. ... Sanders is 1-for-7 this season after Bonds walked intentionally. ... Colorado’s Todd Zeile ground into a double play in the seventh and leads the majors with 20.

his previous eight starts. In interleague play, he improved to 3-0 this season and 8-1 overall. He walked three and struck out one.

“We just started playing pretty good baseball about the start of interleague play,” Hudson said. “We have a lot of guys on the team with all-star caliber talent and hopefully we can carry that momentum to the American League.”

Hudson, who retired 14 of 15 during one stretch, also recorded his eighth career complete game.

“You have to give Hudson credit for throwing the shutout,” said Giants manager Dusty Baker. “We had opportunities early, but we couldn’t capitalize.”

Russ Ortiz (6-5), who was 2-0 in his previous five starts, lasted five-plus innings. He allowed six runs on nine hits, walked four — including three in the second inning — and struck out four.

“I was throwing hard, but my location was off today,” Ortiz said.

The A’s finished interleague play with a major league-best 16-2 mark. Their only losses came to the Giants, who won three of their previous four games. The A’s are 66-38 in interleague play, best in the majors.

“I hope we can look back on it and say that’s the reason we got into postseason,” A’s manager Art Howe said. “Everything fell into place for us.”

Oakland scored twice in the third as four of the first five batters reached. Mark Ellis and Hatteberg each singled and Tejada drove in a run with a single. One out later, Eric Chavez added a run-scoring single.

Hatteberg added an RBI single during a three-run rally in the sixth.

Jeff Kent continued to flourish in the No. 3 spot for the Giants. He was 2-for-4 and is 10-for-19 with 12 RBIs since flip-flopping with Bonds in the lineup four days ago. He has hit safely in 17 of his past 18 games.

Three weeks after Berkeley leaders urged city residents to boycott the high society Claremont Resort and Spa, hotel managers are calling the boycott a failure.

The city’s stance is a protest to the hotel’s unresponsiveness to organized labor.

In a letter to the Daily Planet, Claremont managers said that the recommended sanctions undermine employees’ interests.

“If there are fewer guests, there is less work, and that would directly and negatively affect the people that work here at the hotel,” the statement read. “It just doesn’t make sense to us.”

City Council’s June 11 boycott came amid a three-month standoff between hotel managers and union leaders over what process employees must go through to join a union.

While 250 of the hotel’s food and beverage employees are currently represented by Local 2850 of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, many of the hotel’s 140 nonunion workers lack the health benefits of their co-workers. Most of them are part time employees in the hotel spa and have begun an effort to unionize.

Local 2850 leaders, with support from the city, insist that the employees ought to have the opportunity to unionize through a card count. In a card count a union automatically forms if a majority of employees sign up. Hotel managers, though, demand a more formal election process before they recognize non-union employees as unionized.

Nearly a month into the city-backed boycott, hotel managers remain committed to their demands, adding that the boycott has had little, if any, economic impact on the hotel.

“The union’s efforts in this regard have had no negative effect on our business,” the hotel’s statement read. “In fact, business is up at the Claremont and our guests continue to come here.”

The hotel’s report is in stark contrast to the city’s belief that the boycott is making a difference.

Mayor Shirley Dean said that she was recently visited by the Claremont’s president, the general manager and their attorney. The management team was unsuccessful in an attempt to win the support of city leaders and expressed anger about the boycott, Dean noted.

“I think they were pretty ticked off by it,” she said. “I come to the conclusion that we’re having an impact.”

Warren Mar, labor policy specialist at the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, in time the boycott may have an impact on the hotel’s operation.

Most business at the Claremont is convention-driven, Mar said, so a residential boycott will not likely have a direct effect. However, news of the boycott could eventually influence convention organizers, he said.

“Businesses will respect the boycott, not because they’re necessarily pro-union, but because they don’t want a hassle during their visit,” Mar said. The university is among the Claremont’s clients.

Mar is hoping that the boycott might cause speakers or entertainers sympathize with the union and cancel scheduled appearances at the hotel.

City leaders who are trying to have a say in the labor dispute have history on their side.

Two years ago, employees at Berkeley’s Raddison Hotel won a union contract nine months after City Council adopted a similar resolution that urged a boycott.

Both hotel managers and union leaders said that they will continue to meet. But the stalemate continues.

Ten years ago: The Labor Department reported that the nation’s unemployment rate the previous month had risen to an 8-year high of 7.8 percent, compared to 7.5 percent in May. President George H.W. Bush vetoed the so-called “motor-voter” registration bill. (President Clinton later signed a revised version into law).

Five years ago: Actor James Stewart died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 89.

One year ago: Robert Tools received the world’s first self-contained artificial heart in Louisville, Ky. (He lived 151 days with the device.) Vice President Dick Cheney returned to work, flashing an “OK” sign to reporters two days after receiving a new pacemaker. A year to the day after his stunning election victory, President Vicente Fox surprised Mexico again by marrying his spokeswoman and longtime love, Martha Sahagun.

Approximately 30 residents of west Berkeley met with police and city officials Monday night to request the city’s assistance in dealing with an increase in speeding, crime and drug dealing in the neighborhood.

“The best way to keep a kid away from criminal activity, in my opinion, is to give them a job,” Berkeley Youth Alternatives Development and Policy Director Kevin Williams said.

Event organizer Rachel Crossman said that drug dealing in west Berkeley has increased dramatically in the last few months. Residents have noticed heightened attention from the Berkeley Police Department, but what neighbors want more of are activities for at-risk kids, said Crossman and other people in the room.

“If the kids are in trouble, there needs to be more activities for them,” said Sydney Vilen, a six-year resident of The Strawberry Creek Lodge in the 1300 block of Addison.

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, Neighborhood Services’ Michael Caplan, Berkeley Police Department’s west Berkeley Area Coordinator Erick Upson and Executive Director of the Police Activities League David Manson were also at the meeting.

Vilen said that senior citizens living at the lodge have been mugged, which is unsettling. But her chief worry is the city’s decision to close down Berkeley Adult School pool six months each year.

Several other residents agreed, adding their concern over several underutilized parks and facilities where youth could congregate in structured environments. Rosa Parks Elementary School is not accessible to the public often enough, either, residents said.

“Rosa Parks after it was renovated was closed off to the kids n the neighborhood. It’s beautiful now but now the kids can’t use it,” Crossman said. “What do we have to offer these kids in terms of constructive, supervised activities.”

In turn, Dean said that she would make sure that the park became more available to the community.

“I will unlock the gate myself. Then I will lose the lock and the key,” Dean said. “We want your neighborhood to look like, feel like and be like everyone — you and the city — cares about it.”

Dean spoke frankly with the group about the violent crime surges in various sections of Berkeley. She said the police department currently faces several challenges, and that she is hoping the new personnel would not lose sight of the department’s history of effective community policing.

“Crime is up and we need to deal with that. We’re not Oakland yet, but the point is we don’t want to be,” Dean said.

In addition to an increase in crime, the community wanted to know why there are not more city sponsored, supervised alternatives for at-risk youth. One resident even commented that she would like to see creative sentencing proposed for juvenile crime. For example, a youth might be forced to take part in Berkeley Youth Alternatives if caught stealing a car.

BYA is a nonprofit group that tries to connect at-risk youth with employment. It is working in coordination with the Police Activities League in attaining a gang prevention grant.

Dean and Caplan offered a city web site that could serve as a clearinghouse for summer activities for youth. They also offered there support as the community moved forward with making concrete demands from the city that ranged from traffic calming devices to better outdoor lighting of recreational areas.

I am not an atheist. And, in fact, my life is devoted to religious and spiritual pursuits. However, I applaud the court for the courage it took to rule that “under God” should not be a part of the Pledge. It is upon these kinds of freedoms that our country was founded. We must not allow ourselves to fall into narrow-minded opinion of any kind.

With “Men in Black II,” as with its predecessor, clothes make the movie.

Both films work passably well not so much for their overload of creature effects but for those dark suits and sunglasses, suitable uniforms for the cool comic charisma of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith.

The story is no great shakes, the jokes certainly aren’t out of this world, and the visuals are nothing beyond what you’ll find in umpteen other effects-driven flicks.

So it’s got to be the duds and the dudes.

The aura of “Men in Black” is akin to that of “The Blues Brothers,” which owed its success not to the world’s biggest car crashes but the idea of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd running around in black suits and glasses and copping an attitude.

The computer effects, alien puppets and other visual trappings are bigger and better in “Men in Black II” than in the original, but the film still lives and dies in the relationship between the wiseacre Agent Jay (Smith) and the surly Agent Kay (Jones).

Director Barry Sonnenfeld, returning for the sequel, does not mess with that winning combination, so count on an enjoyable dose of more of the same from Smith and Jones (with the added attraction of Jones going postal in a mailman’s dorky shirt and shorts for his early scenes, an image almost worth the price of admission by itself).

The movie picks up five years after the original, with Jay now the hotshot agent in the secret government unit that polices alien life on Earth. Kay, his memory obliterated after his retirement in the first movie, grumpily supervises a rural postal facility, unaware of his past career as an alien buster.

But MIB boss Zed (Rip Torn), realizing one of Kay’s past close encounters holds the key to a new alien menace, dispatches Jay to bring back his old partner and restore his memory.

The danger comes from Serleena, a shape-shifting beastie that comes to Earth disguised as a Victoria’s Secret model (Lara Flynn Boyle) to hunt for an alien artifact she can use to destroy a rival planet.

The story never gels much beyond that, but no matter. This is a film of gags hanging along a loose narrative thread, so it doesn’t really hurt that the plot is undercooked.

What fun there is to be had comes in watching Jay and Kay go through the old motions, zapping things with their elephantine ray guns, wiping memories with their little “neuralizers,” and hamming it up with old associates. Tony Shalhoub returns as Jeebs, the pawnshop owner with the renewable head, while the filmmakers wisely expand the presence of the amusing alien Worm Guys and especially Frank the talking pug (voiced by Tim Blaney), who steals every scene he’s in.

Newcomers are led by Rosario Dawson as Laura Vasquez, a witness to Serleena’s shenanigans who proves so charming and attractive that the lovelorn Jay cannot bring himself to follow protocol and neuralize her memory.

Dawson, who has quietly built up a list of impressive credits in mediocre studio films (“Josie and the Pussycats”) and little-seen independent projects (“Chelsea Walls”), holds her own against Smith and Jones in her first chance to shine in a really big film for a really big audience. With good dramatic credits behind her and an endearing comic touch here, Dawson is one to watch down the road.

Craig Harmon’s journey across the nation will end in San Francisco on July 4. But on Monday, the history buff made one last stop in Berkeley to pay tribute to a local writer who helped inspire his trip.

Harmon, founder of the Lincoln Highway National Museum and Archives in Galion, Ohio, has been traveling the nation in an old fire truck since July 2000, drawing attention to the historic thoroughfare that stars in his museum back home.

The Lincoln Highway dates back to 1913, when a group of motor enthusiasts and governors created the first transcontinental highway. They named the patchwork of connected roads from New York City to San Francisco after Civil War-era president Abraham Lincoln.

The highway route originally included Foothill Boulevard in Oakland, but in 1928 shifted to San Pablo Avenue and University Avenue in Berkeley. It made its way to the Berkeley Pier where cross-country travelers could take a boat to their final destination of San Francisco.

Harmon, who credits the Lincoln Highway founders with spurring the modern-day system of interstate highways, told the West Berkeley Lions Club Monday that a Depression-era Berkeley resident, David R. Lane, helped inspire his trip.

Lane, once an Associated Press reporter, wrote a 1935 history of the thoroughfare titled “The Lincoln Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Transportation History.”

In a 1998 trip to the Bay Area, while researching the highway, Harmon stumbled across an old copy of the book and found an engraving from Lane.

Until then, the authorship of the book was in dispute. But Harmon tracked down Lane’s daughters, Phyllis Lane of Alameda and Edith Lane Turner of Berkeley, and found further evidence that the former AP reporter had penned the history.

Inspired by the trip, he returned to Ohio, started the museum, and began to plan his cross-country journey.

“If it wasn’t for Edith and Phyllis,” he said, “I wouldn’t be standing here today.”

Turner is pleased with Harmon’s work.

“I had all my father’s papers in the attic and I was beginning to wonder what I would do with them,” she said.

Harmon is hoping to organize several celebrations in the coming years as the 2009 bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth approaches. Included is a re-enactment of the 1913 “sacred fire of liberty” ceremony, in which 300 communities along the highway lit bonfires to commemorate Lincoln.

But Lincoln is not the only focus of Harmon’s trip. The curator, traveling in a 1964 Maxim fire truck, has spent much of his time the last two years in firehouses. After the Sept. 11 attacks, which claimed so many firefighters’ lives, Harmon took on another cause.

“You couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen,” he said.

Harmon began collecting helmets signed by firefighters across the country, and plans to present them to the New York Fire Department on the one-year anniversary of the attacks.

But first, on Thursday, Harmon will celebrate the conclusion of his two-year journey with an event at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco – the official ending point of an old highway reaching for a place in history.

Too bad Congresswoman Barbara Lee's “inner voice” didn't mention the separation of church and state. Her refusal to vote against the congressional condemnation of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance was in no way “heroic.”

LOS ANGELES – While progress has been made by the music, movie and video game industries in curtailing the marketing of violent content to teens, the Federal Trade Commission found more could be done.

In the third follow-up to a 2000 report on violence in entertainment, the agency said Friday industry leaders could further refrain from advertising for violent movies and explicit-content music recordings in magazines and on television programs popular with teens.

The commission found that film studios are doing a good job of complying with voluntary guidelines restricting the advertising of R-rated films before family movies in theaters. Hollywood is also better explaining to audiences why movies have been given restricted ratings.

The industry has also, for the most part, complied with guidelines restricting the advertising of R-rated films in media where children under 17 make up more than 35 percent of the audience, the report found.

But restricted movies are still being advertised on television shows and in magazines that appeal to a predominantly teen-age audience.

For instance, the report found the R-rated “Resident Evil” was advertised during episodes of “Moesha,” “The Simpsons,” and “The Real World.”

Similarly, ads for the R-rated “Training Day” aired during episodes of “Jamie Foxx” and “Family Guy.”

But the industry continues to place ads for such records in media popular with teens, saying that unlike movie ratings, parental advisory warnings are not and should not be age-based.

The video game industry similarly received praise for clearly marking games unsuitable for children with detailed warning labels.

But the report faulted the industry for not going far enough to restrict ads in media popular with teens.

Congress ordered the report in 2000 after becoming concerned about violent entertainment being marketed directly to young children and teens. But Congress has stopped short of calling for federal action that might curtail the entertainment industry’s First Amendment rights.

In response to the FTC’s first report and congressional hearings, the entertainment industry adopted voluntary guidelines to disclose more information to parents and restrict marketing and advertising campaigns.

For the second consecutive week, parents of children in the programs taught in Spanish and English argued against combining third- and fourth-grade classes, or fourth- and fifth-grade classes to cut costs.

Parents said the move would threaten the integrity of a program that works.

“I understand you’re in this time of budget crisis,” Esfandiar Imani said at the school board meeting last week. “We need to focus on programs that have been successful and this is one.”

The program exists at Rosa Parks, Cragmont and LeConte elementary schools.

Superintendent Michele Lawrence said that no final decision has been made about the class combinations, but that the district is leaning toward third-fourth and fourth-fifth grade classes at Rosa Parks and Cragmont. There would be no class combinations at LeConte, she said.

Officials are weighing the move. They say the bilingual classes are less cost efficient because the fourth and fifth grades have fewer students than regular education classes.

Program supporters lamented the move but said it may be necessary. Board member Terry Doran said that he had failed in the early years of the program to foresee the budgetary dilemma emerged and the disruption that resulted.

- David Scharfenberg

Teachers gain time for planning

at Willard Middle School

The board endorsed a plan to lengthen class time at Willard Middle School on four days of the week next year while ending the school day early one day – Wednesday, so teachers can spend time on collaborative planning and staff development.

“For me, it warms my heart, because staff has been trying to do this for 10 years, unsuccessfully,” said Doran, praising Willard principal Michele Patterson and the district administration for pulling the plan together.

Lawrence said Willard will serve as a model for other schools in the district, particularly Berkeley High School, as it makes the transition to small schools in the fall of 2003. Collaborative teacher planning is a hallmark of the small schools model.

- David Scharfenberg

Oakland skipper dies after

falling overboard in Sydney

SYDNEY, Australia — The American skipper of a small yacht died of an apparent heart attack after falling into Sydney Harbor during a race, the sailing club in charge of the event said Monday.

Peter Campbell of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said Gary McPike, a 55-year-old from Oakland, Calif., who lived with his wife in Sydney, died Sunday after falling from his yacht, Joyride.

Two crew members from another yacht dived into the harbor and hauled McPike, an experienced yachtsman, out of the water but they were unable to revive him.

He was transferred to a water police boat and taken to shore, where an ambulance was waiting. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

McPike was an authority on yachting rules and had been a national judge and umpire in the United States before moving to Sydney, Campbell said.

McPike recently umpired at the Congressional Cup, one of the biggest yachting events in the United States, and had applied for status as an international judge and umpire.

Unfortunately there are still a lot of people in the Western world who blame U.S. foreign policy for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It is important to understand that U.S. policy toward Islamic regimes is a consequence of Islamist ideology in Arab countries, and certainly not its cause. 95 percent of current conflicts on earth involve Islamists (e.g. Kosovo, Algeria, Philippines, etc).

We should not consider ourselves responsible for the behavior of Islamic fundamentalists. The terrorist attacks on the U.S. soil didn't occur because of our own behavior but because of theirs, their education, indoctrination, fanatism, education, obscurantism, lack of human freedom, lack of freedom and justice for women, lack of pluralism, and lack of respect for other cultures and religions. The Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamyan in Afganistan, not because of U.S. policy, but because of their deficit of respect for other cultures and religions.

We have been hit because we do not believe in such restricted values that limit in a tremendous way human freedoms, and especially women’s rights. A camel is more valuable for Islamists than a woman whose only role is to deliver babies. How many women were killed because they went into a hairdresser or school, or even worse because they had been raped. We also need to understand the differences between Islam and Islamism. Islamism is a set of ideologies in Islam that apply the laws of Islam (Sharia) to its full extent. Fortunately most Muslims do not comply or accept this extreme practice of Islam.

Will we stop believing in democracy, respecting pluralism and other religions, listening to music and watching movies, drinking alcohol, having sex, or enjoying our freedom just to please Islamist fundamentalists that apply the Sharria as delineated by the Koran? Should American men grow long beards and women wear a tchador to please them? Politics are an essential objective of Islam, the extension of which can only be done via territorial conquest. It is an

obligation for Islam to conquer non islamic lands (Djihad) and to let non-Muslims decide between conversion or extermination. What a program. Or rather, what a pogrom...

We should face the truth, not deny it, and each nation should back Israel and the United States in their fight against Islamic terrorism. A murderer who kills dozen of civilians in a bus, a restaurant, ian ice-cream parlor or a night club should not be compared to his innocent victims. He died because he is a murderer and it's morally wrong to consider him as a victim of his own crime. Fanatism and indoctrination made him become a homicide bomber, not despair. Plenty of desperate people all over the world, who also claim for for a state and for independence are not involved in such ignoble criminal acts (e.g. in Tibet and Kurdistan).

LOS ANGELES — Public pension funds across the country were stung by millions of dollars in losses from the recent debacles at Worldcom, Enron and other companies, but their managers say they have no immediate plans to change strategies.

Those losses, while huge, represent a tiny portion of most funds’ well-diversified assets. But they show how even professional money managers were caught unaware of the fundamental problems underlying these once high-flying companies.

Pension fund officials say there was no way they could have known that WorldCom, the nation’s second-largest long-distance telephone company, was hiding nearly $4 billion in expenses from the investing public.

“We’re scrutinizing things closer than we might have,” said Gary Bruebaker, chief investment officer of the Washington State Investment Board. “The trouble is, all we can use is publicly available information.”

Some experts argue that institutional investors must scrutinize more closely the information companies provide to them, as well as intensify their own research.

“A good analyst has to go beyond what a company feeds them,” said Beth Young, a pension fund consultant in Takoma Park, Md.

Professional money managers also need to be skeptical about “too good to be true” stories, she said.

The California Public Employees Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, said it has lost $235 million on WorldCom shares and about $330 million on WorldCom bonds — paper losses for now, since the shares haven’t been cashed in. That represents about 0.4 percent of the fund’s total assets of $150 billion.

New York state’s pension fund, the nation’s second largest with assets of about $112 billion, suffered its biggest single loss in history through its WorldCom investment. The fund lost about $300 million on its holdings in the telecom giant, aides to state Comptroller H. Carl McCall said.

The nation’s third largest pension fund, the California State Teachers Retirement System, estimates that it is looking at $99.4 million in losses on WorldCom stock and $9.2 million in losses on WorldCom bonds.

That’s a fraction of the fund’s $100 billion portfolio. But it follows losses last fall on Enron investments of $47.5 million.

The Florida State Board of Administration, which invests the state’s pension fund, said its losses in WorldCom are between $85 million and $90 million, about 0.1 percent of the $90 billion fund. It had taken a $300 million hit on Enron.

The Washington State Investment Board, which manages $53 billion in assets, has lost $75 million in WorldCom bonds and stands to lose at least another $8.5 million in WorldCom stock, Bruebaker said. That’s on top of a $97.5 million loss on Enron stocks and bonds.

From Oregon to South Carolina, fund officials say none of the losses will affect their ability to pay pensions. But that hasn’t stopped a flurry of calls from members who worry what impact WorldCom, Enron, Global Crossing and other disastrous investments will have on their benefits.

But widespread piracy in the music and film industries is threatening to short-circuit that arrangement.

In an aggressive effort to protect their content, film studios and record labels have helped draft legislation that would require electronic equipment makers to build products that limit online distribution while preventing consumers from making multiple versions of copyrighted material.

The technology industry is resisting Hollywood’s effort, which would likely result in a new generation of DVD players, computers and other products that would not work with some existing content or equipment.

“If all of a sudden they pull a U-turn, it could be disastrous,” said Ravi Krishnaney, a San Francisco entrepreneur who has spent between $15,000 and $20,000 on his home entertainment system and has a library of about 200 movies on DVD.

The state began a new fiscal year Monday without a budget in place, the 14th time that has happened in the last 25 years.

A new spending plan fell five votes short Sunday night in the Assembly as Republicans warned about a looming “fiscal train wreck” and Democrats accused the GOP of holding up the budget to try to defeat Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in November.

“That’s what all this has been about: embarrassing the governor,” said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles. “Holding up this budget is not about fiscal policy; it’s not about protecting taxpayers.”

Davis, at a news conference after the vote, echoed Goldberg, accusing Republicans of proposing “totally bogus” budget cuts that wouldn’t be allowed by federal law and holding up the budget for political reasons.

“They have no plan. They have no end game. They have no direction. Their only goal is to stall,” he said.

The budget needed at least 54 votes, a two-thirds majority, to pass the 80-seat house. It got 49, all from Democrats. Twenty-six lawmakers, all Republicans, opposed it.

The budget and a $3.6 billion tax increase needed to help balance it were approved by the 40-seat Senate on Saturday night as a lone Republican, Sen. Maurice Johannessen of Redding, joined all 26 Senate Democrats to vote for the bills.

But Assembly Republicans refused to budge, complaining bitterly about the tax increases and contending that the state could erase a $23.6 billion budget deficit with more cuts.

“You Democrats have had your imperial way with this state the last 3 1/2 years,” said Assemblyman Rod Pacheco, R-Riverside. “In exchange for citizens giving you this great unchecked control over their lives you repay them with this worthless trash.”

Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, compared the state’s finances to the Titanic. “It’s not a revenue problem; it’s a spending problem,” he said, adding, “We’re on a sinking ship.”

But Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, said the budget contained cuts for every program except education and reminded Republicans that a number of them voted for budgets that raised spending during Davis’ first years in office.

“Republicans suggest additional cuts,” said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. “Where are you going to cut? Education? Cut corrections? The Republicans have offered no creditable proposals for cuts of the magnitude you’re talking about.”

State officials said there would be no immediate impact if a budget wasn’t in place by Monday, but a long budget deadlock could delay some spending, including payments to the businesses that supply the state with goods and services.

Last year the budget wasn’t passed until July 22 and lawmakers have gone as late as Aug. 29 in recent years before passing a budget.

The tax measure, which didn’t come up in the Assembly, would help erase the deficit in part by boosting vehicle license fees and cigarette taxes.

Vehicle fees would more than double for one year, raising an extra $1.3 billion. For example, the license fee for a 2002 vehicle purchased for $33,000 would jump from $215 to $497.

The measure would raise the cigarette tax, currently 87 cents a pack, to $1.50, generating an additional $650 million for the state treasury in the new fiscal year.

Other provisions of the bill would suspend the teacher tax credit for a year, limit deductions large banks and other financial institutions can take to cover bad debts and suspend for two years the ability of businesses to deduct net operating losses.

SAN FRANCISCO — California joined most of the nation’s other states Monday in reporting new cases of HIV infection, an effort officials hope will help identify which demographic groups are suffering most from the virus.

California’s system will differ from the 33 states that track HIV by reporting patients’ names. Instead, the system is similar to coding methods used in Maryland, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Vermont and Puerto Rico.

California’s system, authorized by the Legislature in 2000, requires doctors and labs to report the last four digits of the patient’s Social Security number, their gender and date of birth. That information will be combined with sexual history and ethnicity and added to the statistics compiled by state health officials.

Those tested anonymously at clinics will not be reported until they enter the health care system.

California had been reluctant to track HIV infections because of privacy issues. Until Monday, full-blown AIDS cases were the only numbers reported, and names are used in that tracking.

SAN DIEGO — A funny thing happens when you put an animal in a more natural setting. It acts naturally.

When the San Diego Zoo used this advertising campaign a few years back to promote a new tiger exhibit, they led a nationwide zoo trend.

Only now though, are zoos around the country are receiving the time, money and space to complete the projects that began more than 25 years ago.

And San Diego is once again adding to the trend with another habitat, this time for the monkeys. They plan to finish the project by 2003, thanks to some recent grants and private donations.

“Zoos in places like Baltimore and of course San Diego are putting mixed species in natural habitats,” said Jane Ballentine, spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. “No longer are people seeing a jaguar in an iron cage. Now zoos show that he can climb trees and sleep up there.”

In the last couple years, zoos in El Paso, Texas, Denver and San Francisco have received millions of dollars from voter-approved bond measures. Officials said this money is going toward placing their animals in natural habitats.

“In 1995 we opened a new Asian section,” said El Paso Zoo spokesman Hector Montes. “This new bond issue will help build a section for African animals and will approximately double the size of the zoo.” A new marine mammal exhibit is also underway.

Denver Zoo spokeswoman Angela Baier said a $62.5 million bond was passed in 1999, helping the zoo to raise part of a $125 million plan to start work on natural habitats.

“We have many natural habitat exhibits already but we plan to revitalize all the exhibits and make them more lush and more naturalistic,” Baier said. “The exhibits will look like predator and prey are together, but they will actually be separated” by moats and walls and glass.

Richard Lattis, the senior vice president at the Bronx Zoo in New York, said his zoo is always looking for ways to evolve. Tiger Mountain will open in 2003.

“When we opened (in the late 1800s), there weren’t natural habitat exhibits,” said Lattis, who also is the director of living institutions for the Wildlife Conservation Society that oversees the zoos and aquarium in New York. “But over the years we have been moving toward fewer species in more natural settings. Most zoos are.”

The move toward more natural habitats for zoo animals actually started in the late 1970s after researchers such as Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees and other animals live as families, not alone as researchers once believed.

And where it was once thought that being able to hose down cement cells was best for the animal, researchers found it healthier for them to be placed in settings that simulated the African savannah, mountains and jungles.

Alan Sironen, a mammal curator at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, said the Internet has also spurred this change.

“People can search (the Internet) about these animals and see an animal at a watering hole in Africa,” he said. “So they want to see that at zoos, too. They don’t want to see them in cages.”

San Diego Zoo spokesman Ted Molter agreed, adding that when he was growing up, his classmates made fun of him for knowing the 19 different kinds of penguins.

“These days though, it’s not surprising that kids would know something like that,” Molter said, strolling proudly through the zoo. “With the Internet, kids can really make that connection. So it’s important that we are helping to educate even further at the zoo.”

The move into natural habitats is also helping animals to reproduce and decrease boredom, said Patrick Janikowski, a Seattle architect who helped design Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and the Los Angeles Zoo.

“There has been a decrease in pacing,” Janikowski said. “And a mixed species environment adds to the enrichment of the animal’s life. Every zoo would like to do natural habitats. It’s money that is the problem.”

Jon Coe, a zoo architect in Philadelphia who worked on natural habitats at zoos in Philadelphia, Detroit, and South Carolina, said he has seen the habitats change animal behavior.

“The gorillas in the exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo had chronic diarrhea but once they were moved, that went away and their coats got better,” Coe said.

Zoo experts acknowledge some drawbacks to natural habitats. For example, the more foliage, rocks and caves in exhibits, the more places there are for animals to hide.

“The other is that tigers really like playing with balls. So do you give them a ball after you have spent all this money on their natural environment?” Lattis said. “But really, we are just looking at whatever we can do for the animal.” So zoos have compromised with the animals, designing toys that look like logs and rocks.

Molter agreed, as he watched families scramble to spot two tiger cubs hiding behind a rock.

“Sometimes, the animals want to get away and that’s good for them,” he said, his voice drowned out by the sound of waterfalls from a nearby exhibit. “They feel safe this way and that’s better for their mental and physical being.”

In the meantime, a cub popped his head above the rock and the crowd laughed and cheered.

“I think they know how good they have it,” Molter said.

But it wasn’t clear if he was talking about the animals, or the people.

One police officer walked holding hands with a buff shirtless companion, as men and women in uniforms clearly proved to be the darlings of the day.

More than one million spectators were estimated in attendance at the 27th annual parade, which was followed by a festival at San Francisco’s Civic Center, featuring live entertainment, dancing, arts and crafts and food vendors. The official theme: Be yourself, change the world.

Less than a generation ago, police were often targets of scorn during gay pride celebrations, as marchers condemned police discrimination and violence. Not this year.

The Bay Area’s gay community commemorated Officer Jon Cook, who two weeks ago became San Francisco’s first openly gay cop to die in the line of duty. Cook was killed in car crash while chasing a domestic violence suspect.

A blaring police car siren following police officers whipped crowds into a cheering and clapping frenzy.

No other group received as much applause as the cops, except maybe sheriff deputies and firefighters, though this may have been residual applause, as they marched directly behind the police contingent.

In front of police, marchers advocating medical marijuana and legalization of marijuana hardly raised an eyebrow. The crowd barely reacted to the marijuana marchers, including those from Berkeley.

This year’s marchers seemed more in the mood to celebrate than fight for equal rights compared to the vocal expressions of passion and angry protest signs characteristic of marches in the 1980s and 1990s. Though there were muffled cheers for groups advocating for civil union rights or same-sex marriage.

As the parade has become more mainstream in recent years with corporate sponsors promoting the likes of alcohol and breath mints, public displays of nudity, bare breasts and bare-chest men have been less common sights.

Mayor Brown said the parade and related events promoting diversity and sexual freedom is economically beneficial, generating more than $150 million in business for the city.

Despite the abundant sunshine and balmy temperatures the mostly 20- and 30-something men and women mostly kept their shirts on, which surely disappointed voyeurs.

Among the best dressed in the parade were colorfully-costumed gay Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and a handful of marching bands. Only about half the marchers dressed in parade costumes while politicians, political activists, AIDS groups wore regular street clothes. A few floats passed with dancers wearing nothing but Speedos, and one passed with buff bodies covered by skimpy shorts with American flag patterns, accompanied by red, white and blue tassels adorning their muscular legs.

The biggest display of naughtiness marching in the parade this year was a giant two-headed penis, which stretched the length of about six cars and was held aloft by nine people. Other naughty revelers included a naked man seen parading past 555 Market St. and a few female marchers with the Extra Action Marching Band wearing dildos strapped over their costumes.

The city’s elected officials and staff members, as well as its commissions, boards and agencies, conduct the people’s business. The people do not cede to these individuals and entities the right to decide what their constituents should know about the operations of local government.

That’s what the San Francisco Sunshine ordinance says. And the same goes for Berkeley. Government business is our business, and it invariably works better and more equitably when its operations are open to public view.

Yet many of us – reporters, commissioners and other citizens – have been thwarted when we’ve tried to gather information from, and gain timely access to, the city government and school administration. The Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition wants to know if you’re getting all the information you need to fulfill your role in government, or if your attempts to gain access have been stymied... and if so, how. We invite your specific suggestions for better communication to and from government. We also want to know where Berkeley is doing a good job in keeping its citizens informed on and involved in the operations of government.

Please visit us at Berkeley Citizens Sunshine Coalition, 2887 College Ave. #338, Berkeley, CA 94705-2154; or e-mail your comments to our open “bulletin board” at B–Sunshine@yahoogroups.com or our more private mailbox at Berkeleysunshine@yahoo.

YOKOHAMA, Japan – The World Cup of upsets and upstarts ended with a fitting champion and a rejuvenated superstar.

Ronaldo scored both goals to lead Brazil to a 2-0 victory over Germany on Sunday for the team’s record fifth title, capping a superb tournament that helped erase bad memories of his knee injuries and the team’s 1998 World Cup final.

“Today we lived a beautiful dream,” he said.

The Brazilians won with a style and artistry reminiscent of their past champions and overcame the cool efficiency of the Germans, who were undone by a blunder from the world’s best goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn.

Brazil, just months ago considered one of the weakest teams ever from the country, went 7-0 in the world’s most popular sporting event, playing in the final for the third straight time.

Appropriately, the greatest of all Brazilian players, Pele, handed over the golden World Cup trophy to captain Cafu as fireworks and streamers flew from a stage on the field and teammates bounced up and down in a sea of silver confetti.

Pele then hugged and kissed Ronaldo, who tied his national record of 12 goals by scoring eight times in this tournament — the most in a World Cup since 1970.

Thousands of flashbulbs went off as the first World Cup in Asia ended in a much more satisfying way for Brazil and Ronaldo than in ’98, when he was ill before the game and played poorly in a 3-0 loss to host France.

“Everything changes,” Ronaldo said through tears. “People said Brazilian soccer was decadent and in crisis. But this will prove that Brazil’s soccer is alive.”

Alive and beautiful, as it was for the champions of 1958, ’62, ’70 and ’94. This team wasn’t supposed to be as strong or graceful or cunning as those. But it was every bit as successful in its first World Cup meeting with Germany.

And Brazil certainly celebrated in classic Brazilian style.

At the final whistle, every Brazilian player ran onto the field carrying a flag or draped in one. Goalkeeper Marcos, who outplayed Kahn, kneeled in the net, his body covered with his country’s green, blue and gold flag, as coach Luiz Felipe Scolari ran to hug him.

With a sign in Portuguese saying, “People of Brazil, thank you for the affection,” players paraded before an ecstatic crowd that chanted “Penatcampeao” (five-time champion) while it did the samba in the stands.

Each member of the Brazilian contingent held hands and gathered in a circle in the middle of the field just before Cafu accepted the trophy.

“We did not have a debt, but we are free now of the weight on our consciences,” Ronaldo said.

That weight now might fall on Kahn, the best goalkeeper of the tournament until he made an egregious error in the 67th minute.The Germans actually were controlling play, looking as adventurous as Brazil, until Ronaldo struck.

He stole the ball from Dietmar Hamann and fed his attacking partner, Rivaldo. The hard left-footed shot was stopped by Kahn, who was impenetrable for nearly the entire month, allowing just one previous goal.

But the ball ricocheted off Kahn’s arms directly to Ronaldo, who touched it home with his right foot.

“Of course, it’s bitter when you make a mistake in the final,” Kahn said. “I think it was the only mistake in the tournament, and it was bitterly punished — it’s 10 times as bitter.

“There’s no consolation, but we have to go on.”

Ronaldo got another goal 12 minutes after his first, one featuring that special Brazilian magic. Rivaldo cleverly allowed Kleberson’s pass to roll through his legs directly to Ronaldo just inside the penalty area. He right-footed a low shot that a sprawling Kahn could not reach.

“Today God reserved this for me and the Brazilian team,” Ronaldo said. “I’m very happy and proud. I dedicate these goals to my family and to Dr. Gerard Saillant.”

Saillant is the French doctor who performed surgery on his knee, saving the career of the 25-year-old striker.

The victory set off wild celebrations in Brazil, where the sounds of car horns, plastic trumpets and fireworks filled the air. Thousands of beach-goers danced in their bathing suits and yellow Brazil jerseys to the music of Samba drums before a giant-screen TV up on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach.

Many fans in Germany were devastated. They hoped this team, which no one expected much from before the tournament, could end its surprising run with a fourth World Cup championship.

In Berlin, as a crowd of 3,000 filed away from Potsdamer Platz, many fans remained in front of a large screen TV, holding their faces and crying after the final whistle blew.

During a tournament highlighted by upsets from the very beginning, when Senegal beat defending champion France in the opener, the Brazilians never faltered.

While such favorites as France, Argentina and Portugal went home early, and South Korea, Turkey — even the United States — was making its mark, Brazil ignored it all.

The scene was reminiscent of the final out of the World Series or the last seconds of the Super Bowl. Not that anyone mistook the San Francisco Fog Rugby Club for the Yankees or the Raiders, but the pride and exhilaration shared by players and fans Saturday at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco were genuinely big league.

When the final whistle blew, ending the inaugural Mark Bingham Invitational Rugby Tournament, the victorious Fog embraced each other in triumph.

They were a battered band, sporting black eyes and bloody noses, and one of seven predominantly gay rugby teams from the United States and England participating in the weekend play.

When the cameras stopped flashing, the players, called ruggers, hobbled around on bruised legs and took turns hoisting and drinking Guinness from the freshly minted Mark Bingham Cup.

The San Francisco Fog, one of five American Gay Rugby Clubs, was Mark Bingham’s last team, and in many ways, they and the tournament they held in his honor are a living testament to him.

On Sept. 11, Bingham was a passenger aboard United Flight 93. The plane was hijacked by terrorists and crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Many believe Bingham was one of the passengers who fought the terrorists, ultimately preventing the passenger jet from hitting an intentional target.

Bingham, owned a San Francisco public relations firm. He was working on opening a New York City office, which was why he was on the flight from Newark, NJ to San Francisco.

Bingham’s teammates remember him as a kindhearted, gregarious man. But, to anyone who watched Saturday’s tournament, it was Bingham’s passion for Rugby, starting on three collegiate national championship teams at UC Berkeley, which will be his greatest legacy.

Rugby is barely a blip on the U.S. sports scene. Most sports fans know it only as a rugged foreign game, in which combatants, usually endowed with 20-inch necks and tree-trunk size legs barrel into each other at full speed without the slightest bit of padding.

But for Bingham, the competition and the camaraderie on the Rugby field, called a pitch, gave him confidence and comfort to be himself.

When his friend, Derrick Mickle formed the Fog in 2000, Bingham withdrew from his more competitive team to work with the new club, the majority of whose members had never played Rugby or any other team sport before.

The Fog now has more than 70 members, and since the publicity surrounding Bingham’s death last September, three new gay Rugby teams have formed, in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. Across the country, gay ruggers are finding in rugby the same joy and sense of belonging that Bingham cherished.

“Gay men have always wanted to be athletes, but they never felt welcome. These teams allow them to be comfortable as athletes and gay men,” said Mickle.

For Jason Rosado, who has been with the Fog for about a year, his rugby experience has been inspiring. “I’ve never been with a greater group of guys,” he said. “The sense of camaraderie we have is amazing. I’ve never experienced it in any other sport.”

For experienced players, the gay-friendly teams have encouraged them to return to competitive play, or like Bingham, leave their straight club.

“A lot of us felt we could never truly be ourselves on straight teams,”said Scott Glassgen, founder of the New York club. “I played for straight teams, but I could never say to them ‘this is my boyfriend.’”

Russell Jaszewski, a rugger for the Manchester Spartans, which along with the Kings Cross Steelers traveled from England for the tournament, says the situation is identical across the Atlantic. “There’s a huge difference,” said Jaszewski, who recently joined the Spartans after playing for a traditional team in Scotland. “It’s so much nicer to be yourself on a gay team.”

Gay people aren’t the only ones who have felt welcome on the clubs. All of the seven teams in the tournament had some straight members, who prefer the cooperative spirit that thrives on the teams.

The Fog’s, Derrick Kundargi, is straight and played rugby in high school and college, but said he got burnt out on the “macho stuff.” “It wasn’t the vibe I wanted,” he said. “The Fog is more about support than putting someone down to win.”

In the United States, each geographical region has a rugby league. The Fog play in the Northern California Rugby Football Union, and like the other predominantly gay teams, their opponents are all straight teams within their region.

To a man, the ruggers attest that the togetherness they enjoy on their clubs has been matched by the acceptance they have received from the their opponents.

“I don’t know why it is that rugby has a unique culture, but as soon as it’s all over we’re mates,” said Cameron Geddes, the Fog’s captain and graduate student at UC Berkeley.

Part of rugby’s culture includes a tradition that home team takes the guests to the pub of their choice for drinks and singing rugby songs. According to Brian Stansberry of the Washington Renegades, the first U.S. gay rugby team, the postgame partying has resulted in amusing and positive experiences for everybody involved.

“Washington DC is still a fairly conservative town, so for a lot guys, we’re taking them to their first gay bar. On the flip side, they take us to places we probably wouldn’t ever go on our own, but it’s always a great time.”

For the ruggers that played in the Bingham tournament, the camaraderie and sense of belonging they have gained from the game is important, but it is their competitive drive that motivates them, as evidenced in the Fog’s final huddle before their championship match against the Kings Cross Steelers of London Saturday.

“This is the world cup final. Nothing matters but the next forty minutes,” shouted Gettes.

The Fog went out and played like champions, dominating play, and outscoring their opponents five tries to one.

When the game was over, the players’ focus shifted back to their teammate. They celebrated with Bingham’s mother Alice Hoglin, lifting her onto their shoulders, and chanting her name.

“Mark was such an inspiration for the guys on this team,” Mickle said.

Hoglin was touched by the outporing of emotion for her and Mark.

“I’m so proud that my son was the inspiration for this,” she said. “I really think Mark’s spirit is here today.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Americans should applaud this responsible decision. The court found that the reciting of the pledge by teachers and students “amounts to a government endorsement of religion,” going so far as to compare the phrase “under God” with “under Zeus.”

Bravo.

The reaction to this ruling is further proof that we need to end prejudice of all types in this country. Offending pantheists or atheists, while not seen or heard much, still have their rights. While the court continues to make good rulings, extremists, yes extremist come in all color/sizes/religions, try to deny the rights of all.

If Berkeley native David Brower’s message was to reclaim the earth through common action, then the late conservationist’s soul was appeased on Saturday.

At a day-long event honoring Brower’s legacy, two community gardens on Sacramento Street in southwest Berkeley became gathering places for residents of all ages to have a healthy lunch, get their faces painted, learn how bees make honey, and most importantly, plant a crop of vegetables that will find its way to local dinner tables this fall.

Billed as the 2nd Annual Brower Day by the Brower-formed Earth Island Institute, the day’s co-sponsor was Strong Roots, a decade-old organization that encourages youth to get their hands dirty– in the garden.

Brower died in October of 2000 at the age of 88, and with the exception of his granddaughter Rosemary, who was helping local beekeeper Khaled Almaghafi sell some honey Saturday, not many at the event knew the man. Most, though, had heard of him, and some, like Sherri Crighton of Martinez, came quite a distance to pay tribute. Along with her 20-month-old son, Nolan, Crighton was watering a new row of tomato plants that had been planted just that morning.

Representing Brower’s generation was Berkeley Vice-Mayor Maudelle Shirek, 91, long-time activist and political representative in southwest Berkeley. However, Shirek refused to speak as a politician on this day. Donning a simple straw hat, Shirek told the Daily Planet, “I’m just a farmer.”

She proceeded to talk at some length about her childhood growing up on an Arkansas farm, and smiled when recounting the vegetables and fruits that were raised by her family: peas, butter beans, peaches, apples, plums, berries and the like.

“It’s very helpful (for these children) to be connected to the earth. That’s what’s missing now,” she said.

Reinforcing Shirek’s statements about the positive impact of the garden on the locals, Strong Roots’ Shyaam Shabaka said, “before we started here, this land had two and a half tons of glass and garbage on it. Today we are planting tomatoes, peppers, corn, mustard and collard greens, turnips. The house just across the street a few years ago was the worst crack house in the neighborhood, where two people got killed and one person was shot 10 times.”

The land was donated to Strong Roots by local resident Bill Beasley.

Shabaka says the garden has helped “turn the community around” and that one of the young people who once worked with Strong Roots now has a civil engineering degree from UCLA.

The fruits of the first harvest will go to a willing audience. “Most of what we grow here will be donated to the New Light Senior Center and other senior centers, who can appreciate fresh organic vegetables,” said Shabaka. Shabaka is working on developing a similar project with the Earth Island Institute in Richmond.

Neighbors Michele Morgan and Joseph Camacho, who moved to Woolsey

Street just three years ago, lent their hands at making home-made ice cream. They, too, noted the impact of Strong Roots youth team on the once-vacant lot.

“It’s fascinating to do this in honor of a ‘conservation celebrity,” said Morgan. “There was nothing here before.”

A strong sun shone on plants and planters alike as the day progressed. Lunch plates were put down and the bending, digging, planting and watering began in earnest.

Oakland resident Raul Garcia, who came to Strong Roots via the East Bay Conservation Corps, forced a smile and said, “It will be a long hot summer, but it’s worth it. It’s fun and I enjoy doing it.”

If David Brower was looking down on the day’s events, no doubt he was smiling, too.

As the former manager of Child Nutrition Services from 1990 to 2001, I need to disagree with Superintendent Michele Lawrence’s assessment of why the school district's food service program is failing operationally and financially.

First of all, basic finance theories were not followed. The department knew back in the summer of 2001 that the contract with Emery Unified School District was not renewed. The parents of the Child Nutrition Advisory Committee did not want food services to contract meals out to any district because these parents wanted to focus on feeding Berkeley Unified School District students first. Unfortunately, not every child was eating at BUSD. Any business person running an operation knows that if your revenues are down, you need to decrease expenses. Was that done at BUSD Food Services Department? Apparently not according to the accounting department and food services staff.

Just ask some accountants there and they can tell you the real facts about the department. The ex-controller, Katrina Nelson and accountant, Bill Louie have repeatedly told the director, Karen Candito, in November 2001 that if she does not curtail the department's operational expenses and increase revenues, she will run into a deficit of more than half a million dollars. This did not deter the director to take much action. One of her cellular phone expenses last fall was over $600. My husband who is the controller of a major high tech company indicates the sales people in his company are given a limit of $250 which includes calls around the world to Asia and Europe where the manufacturing plants are located. How does a director who basically is just an office administrator accumulate a cellular phone bill three times the normal rate of a sales person? The catering program was eliminated by Karen which did bring in a set revenues. Meal participation is down since the fall of 2001 and nothing was done to decrease expenses for revenues lost.

The superintendent states that the problems began before Karen became the director last year. If the department had a reserve of about $ 850,000 how could a department be poorly run with problems? Definitely not financially. If anyone checks the financial records of the food services department for the last five years, the food services cafeteria fund never infringed upon the general fund. Food services funds brought in enough revenues to pay for all the expenses which is the reason why the department had a healthy reserve to plan for rainier times. Obviously having a reserve of more than $800,000 could not take into account the dubious leadership with weak financial skills. Many people who have been in the district will tell you that the food services was in financial and operational problems back in 1990. It even had to borrow $100,000 to continue operating the summer program. That amount was paid back to the general fund in three years and able to build a reserve of a million dollars a few years ago. How could one quantify that as problems to food services? Superintendent Lawrence claims better times are ahead. How will she guarantee to provide healthy food for kids in a cost effective way if the general fund had to provide $166,000 for school year 2001-2002 which does not include the reserve being spent and provide another contribution of $350,000 for next school year? Is this the next educational food service scandal to come out from the recent ones we heard in the business world of Enron and WorldCom fiasco?

Stay tuned for next year to see if better times are ahead for food services.

David Ross Brower was born in Berkeley on July 1, 1912. He dropped out of the University of California in his sophomore year, joined the Sierra Club two years later and by 1938 was engaging in conservation battles, be-

coming a member of the club’s board in 1941.

After serving in the U.S. Army’s famed 10th Mountain Division in Europe during World War II, he returned home and eventually became the Sierra Club’s first executive director, serving in that position from 1952 to 1969, increasing the club’s membership from 2,000 to 77,000 and founding the Sierra Club Foundation. He was forced to resign as director in 1969, but would be re-elected to the Club’s board of directors in 1983, 1986, 1995, and 1998.

A few months after his resignation from the Sierra Club, Brower founded Friends of the Earth (FOE), the first international network of environmental organizations which now has independent affiliates in 68 countries, and the League of Conservation Voters. In 1982, he founded the Earth Island Institute, Brower Fund, and the biennial Fate and Hope of the Earth conferences, which continue his commitment to achieve “peace on – and with – the Earth.”

In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, he led delegations to Siberia at the request of the Soviet government to aid in the protection and restoration of Lake Baikal. In 1994, he co-founded the Ecological Council of the Americas, a network of regional organizations focusing on problems of environmental and economic integration. He also developed plans for a National Biosphere Reserve System, and a National Land Service (to replace the current Bureau of Land Management) with a new mission of protecting and restoring public and private lands in the U.S. David Brower was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times: in 1978, 1979, and – with Prof. Paul Ehrlich – in 1998. In October 1998, he was awarded Japan’s Blue Planet Prize, the richest environmental award in the world, for his environmental accomplishments. In 1999, he co-founded the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, the famous “blue-green” coalition of labor unions and environmental activists working on campaigns from trade policy to renewable energy. In November 2000, David Brower died at the age of 88.

He had a profound impact on the state of America’s wild lands by helping to create many of the country’s most treasured national parks and seashores – in Kings Canyon, the North Cascades, Great Basin, Alaska, Cape Cod, Fire Island, the Golden Gate, and Point Reyes – and to protect Olympic National Park and the San Gorgonio Wilderness. He played a major role in keeping dams out of Dinosaur National Monument, the Yukon, and the Grand Canyon, and in establishing the National Wilderness Preservation System and the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, which resulted in the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

But more than anything else, David Brower was a lifelong wilderness enthusiast. He made 70 first ascents in Yosemite and the western United States in summer and winter, participated in a historic attempt on Mount Waddington in Canada, led the first ascent of New Mexico’s Shiprock (1939), and trekked to 18,000 feet in the Himalaya below Mount Everest (1976) and to Thyangboche (1984). Between 1939 and 1956, he led some 4,000 people into the remote wilderness as part of the Sierra Club’s Wilderness Outings Program.

David Brower especially liked what Russell Train, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality in the Nixon administration, said about him: “Thank God for Dave Brower. He makes it so easy for the rest of us to be reasonable.”

For Brian Goldberg, a member of Berkeley’s Jewish community, crime has become an increasingly significant issue.

“The recent attacks in the Jewish community are part of the reason I’m here,” said Goldberg, speaking at Sunday’s Survival Workshop, an afternoon event sponsored by the Berkeley Police Department. “I think I’ve picked up a few tips on what to do and how to be less of a target.”

In addition to religious crime, attendees of the workshop expressed fear about walking in south Berkeley at night, particularly near Telegraph Avenue and People’s Park, and wondered what to do if approached by suspicious or threatening people.

South and west Berkeley have recently experienced a rash of violent crime, including last Thursday’s fatal stabbing on Haste Street near Telegraph Avenue as well as a number of shootings in the last month.

According to members of the BPD, being aware of one’s surroundings and maintaining eye contact while passing people on the street are very basic but important tips.

“Predators look for someone who’s fumbling around, lost or distracted with no direction. Making eye contact is very important because it says ‘I know you’re there.’ It communicates confidence,” said BPD Sgt. Steve Odom.

During Sunday’s first demonstration, Odom and an attendee of the workshop acted out an armed robbery scenario. Pointing a gun at the volunteer, Odom asked for the victim’s purse.

“Always submit property in a situation like that,” Odom said. “Property is never worth your person.”

Though police encourage citizens to simply hand over a wallet or purse when confronted by an armed robber, they emphasize that one should never get into a car.

“Giving up property is okay but when its you, your person, that’s not okay. Never get into someone’s car. There should be no surrender in a situation like that.” Odom said.

Four personal safety color codes were also included in the day’s discussion. The four conditions – white, yellow, orange and red – represent the heightened levels of awareness citizens should maintain, according to officers. While many individuals maintain a relaxed or “condition white” level of awareness, individuals should maintain a more vigilant level of awareness, “condition yellow,” while walking in dark or unsafe areas.

For “Condition Red,” individuals are expected to let their natural defense mechanisms take over. “With condition red you’re about to die, it’s about survival. You have to fight,” Odom said.

Demonstrating an example of condition red, Odom and BPD Officer Mary Kusmiss enacted a choking scenario. With Odom’s hands placed near her neck, Kusmiss immediately countered with the dramatization of a combination blow to Odom’s face and a knee to his groin.

“Incapacitation is the key here. Aiming for the groin will incapacitate a perpetrator. You’re fighting for your life,” Odom said.

While carrying pepper spray or sound devices can help deter criminals certain situations, police say that an individual’s most important weapon in fighting crime is a sense of awareness. According to Kusmiss, avoiding suspicious individuals can be the most valuable defense.

Attendees of the workshop also questioned police about how to deal with the area’s homeless population. Police say that avoiding the traps some street people set is the best way to deter confrontations with potentially unstable individuals. “A lot of these people have psychiatric problems, we can’t change that. But you can avoid the games they play, the cons they set up. The best response is just to be yourself and don’t play their game,” Odom said.

Police also recommend doing the little things: Men should carry their wallets in their front pockets in crowded places and women should wear their purses across their bodies. They also say simple things like sticking a neighborhood watch sign in one’s front yard, motion lights, or having a dog in the house can be the difference between being victimized or being passed over by a potential thief.

“Keep your body language strong. Be with someone else. There’s strength in numbers. Most predators don’t want any kind of resistance. A very small percentage of criminals like a fight,” said Odom.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” says Mike Liepman, executive director of Berkeley’s congregation Beth El. While the congregation currently has a number of security measures in place, Liepman says the local synagogue is always looking to do more.

“We’re in contact with BPD concerning safety issues, we just hope to stay watchful,” Liepman said.

The afternoon event was held at Berkeley’s Hillel Student Center, a center for students in the Jewish community of Berkeley, and recently the target of several incidents of hate-crime related vandalism.

The workshop was held at the request of Berkeley resident Richard Stern, who was recently assaulted south of the UC campus, and other local residents concerned about safety, according to the BPD.

Congresswoman a national figure; was lone dissenter against war on terrorism

SANTA CRUZ – President Bush and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani may be the new post-Sept. 11 heroes for most of the United States, but in liberal pockets across the country, Congresswoman Barbara Lee – the Oakland Democrat who was the lone dissenter against the war on terrorism – is the leader du jour.

“There’s no doubt she’s a national figure now,” said Scott Lynch, a spokesman for Washington D.C.-based Peace Action. “She’s a hero to the entire progressive side of the electorate.”

Saturday was declared “Barbara Lee Day” in Santa Cruz where a sold-out crowd packed the aisles of a revamped movie theater. Supporters jumped to their feet again and again, hooting and cheering when she told them “the lifeblood of democracy is the right to dissent.”

“She’s become a national moral leader in awakening the movement for justice, peace and a thorough re-examination of United States foreign policy,” said Santa Cruz Mayor Christopher Krohn, who gave Lee a shiny key to the city.

The compliments have been echoed across the country.

In Eugene, Ore., she’s been named winner of the Wayne Morse Integrity in Government Award for 2002.

Kimberly Ead, director of the Peace and Human Rights Project in Burlington, Vt., said in her community, Lee “means hope for our political system.”

The most admired people in the United States these days are George and Laura Bush, Colin Powell and Rudolph Giuliani, according to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll. Lee didn’t even make the top 20 women’s list, which included Madonna and Christine Whitman.

The poll of 1,019 adults was taken in December and has an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.

But Michael Carrigan, program director of Salem-based Oregon Peace Works, said national polls don’t necessarily reflect the views of the peace movement.

“We certainly don’t see Bush as a hero. The people we admire are people like Barbara Lee, who had the courage to take a stand,” he said.

Lee’s profile among the left rose dramatically after her Sept. 14 vote against a resolution giving sweeping war powers to the president.

Before then, said Carrigan – a longtime peace activist – he had never even heard of her.

“It’s like night and day,” he said.

While the high profile vote drew Lee laudits from anti-war activists, it prompted death threats and vehement hatred from other Americans who felt she was unwilling to stand up for her country.

Council Nedd, a member of a Washington D.C.-based network of conservative African-Americans called Project 21, said Lee doesn’t deserve to be called a hero.

“She gets a lot of attention for her wild rhetoric and vapid platitudes, but I wouldn’t say she’s an effective legislator, and that’s what she was elected for,” said Nedd.

Jerald Udinsky, a Republican financial economist who is running against Lee for her Congressional seat this fall, said Lee’s anti-war vote was what motivated him to challenge her.

“I was outraged,” he said, “that she didn’t support America defending itself from a direct attack.”

Despite widespread opposition to Lee, Udinsky said he’s been unable to raise anywhere near the $500,000 Lee has collected for her campaign from labor organizations, peace groups and others, according to data from The Center for Responsive Politics in Washington D.C.

“The national party feels there is a relatively low probability of success here, so it’s hard to get funding,” said Udinsky. “She’s going to be hard to beat.”

Born in El Paso, Texas, Lee is a self-described army brat – her father is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. She studied social work and was a community organizer before seeking office. She was elected to the House of Representatives for the traditionally Democratic ninth district of California – including Berkeley and Oakland – in a 1998 special election to fill the seat of retiring Congressman Ron Dellums for whom Lee had worked as an intern.

She’s been a voice against war in Congress in the past – in 1998, she and four other members of the House voted against authorizing the bombing of Iraq after it refused to allow United Nations weapons inspections, and in 1999, she was the lone dissenter voting against sending U.S. forces into Yugoslavia.

But it wasn’t until Bush asked Congress to back him in his efforts to fight terrorism that she became nationally known for her positions.

“There’s a lot of people who think President Bush is a hero, but he’s not my hero,” said Carolyn Bninski at the Boulder, Colo.-based Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center. “Barbara Lee has a lot of courage. She listened to her inner voice and took a stand against what the popular culture was promoting. Now that’s heroic.”

SAN FRANCISCO – As they nurse a horrendous high-tech hangover, venture capitalists are getting a sick feeling that more pain is on the way.

Their foreboding stems largely from the glut of startups still remaining from the dot-com frenzy that venture capitalists fueled during the late 1990s and the first half of 2000.

While hundreds of startups have folded since the end of 1999, thousands more are hanging on, desperately trying to preserve their money in hopes of a high-tech industry rebound.

And with the chances of a tech recovery this year dimming, people in the business expect dozens of unprofitable startups to fail during the next six months — a phenomenon that would force venture capitalists to recognize even more losses on their books.

“You can just look at the numbers and see that another day of reckoning is coming,” said Peter Barris, managing general partner of New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm in Reston, Va. “We are going to have to go through another painful trough.”

Things already look pretty bad. In 2001, the value of venture capital funds fell by an average of 27.8 percent, marking the first annual loss recognized in any calendar year since the industry began tracking its returns in 1980.

Though they still have an estimated $40 billion to $60 billion sitting idle in their funds, skittish venture capitalists invested just $5.1 billion in this year’s first quarter, a 53 percent drop from a year ago, according to VentureOne, an industry research firm.

The investment activity has declined in every quarter since peaking at $26.9 billion during the first three months of 2000, VentureOne said.

Venture capitalists raised just $2.25 billion during the first quarter, the slowest pace since 1995. By some industry estimates, refunds to investment partners exceeded the amount of new money raised.

The grim conditions produced some dire predictions at a prominent industry conference in June in San Francisco.

Venture capitalists attending the International Business Forum said they are bracing for a traumatic contraction that will wipe out up to half of the nation’s roughly 800 venture capital firms in the next few years.

Some said another wave of failed investments could push their five-year and 10-year returns into the red, a possibility that seemed unfathomable in the boom years.

As of Dec. 31, the industry’s average five-year return still stood at a respectable 35.9 percent while the average 10-year return was 26.4 percent, according to statistics compiled by Thomson Financial/Venture Economics.

Some of those returns may be artificially high because a significant number of venture capitalists still haven’t faced up to the grim conditions by discounting the values of investments in failing startups.

For example, the privately held stock of a startup once worth $8 per share has been marked down to $3.75 per share by Kline Hawkes & Co., said Frank R. Kline, the Los Angeles venture capital firm’s managing partner. But another investor still values the company at $6.75, hoping for a turnaround. Kline wouldn’t identify the startup or other investor.

The shakeout may take two to four years.

“The industry has moved from a recessed state to a state of depression,” said Edwin M. Kania Jr., managing general partner of OneLiberty Ventures in Cambridge, Mass. “We are in an existential crisis where venture capitalists are asking, ’What is our purpose?’ Why am I here?”’

Venture capitalists admit they mostly have themselves to blame.

After never investing more than $20 billion in a single year during the industry’s first 50 years of existence, venture capitalists poured $141 billion into startups during 1999 and 2000, according to VentureOne.

Some of that money went to more mature privately held companies, but $89.5 billion funded 4,383 startups, mostly in high-tech industries, during 1999 and 2000, VentureOne said.

Slightly more than one-fourth — 1,248 companies — either went public, were acquired or went out of business, according to VentureOne.

That means 3,135 of the startups created at the height of the Internet bubble are still around, hoping to either begin making money on their own or persuade venture capitalists to invest in them again.

Only a handful are likely to survive, according to venture capitalists, industry analysts and turnaround specialists working with troubled startups.

“I’m still seeing some companies out there that should have been put to rest a year ago,” said John Zipp, a senior director for SageGroup Strategies, a turnaround consulting company. “They have been hoarding their cash and now it’s starting to run out.”

Companies that have finally given up in the last few weeks include Personic, a Brisbane maker of online software for job recruitment that abruptly shut down in early June after burning through $76 million in venture capital.

Other recent flops include Sanrise of Dublin, Calif., a data storage company that burned through much of its $305 million in venture capital before filing for bankruptcy protection on June 12.

The big push for follow-up investments is likely to occur in six to nine months, predicted Susan A. Mason, a general partner with Onset Ventures in Menlo Park.

Few, if any, of these startups will be able to raise money in the public markets, given Wall Street’s disdain for the initial public offerings of unproven high-tech companies.

These cash-starved startups, Barris said, also are likely to be spurned by chastened venture capitalists who now realize “we invested in a lot more companies than deserved to be alive.”

The corrections for the first and second quarter do not change the company’s previously reported net income or balance sheet, according to the reports, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the close of markets.

The recalculations affect a line in the quarterly statements that reported the previous year’s income as if a recent accounting change had been in effect.

The accounting change requires companies to reflect the loss of goodwill, or the difference between what a company paid for an investment, such as an acquisition, and what that investment is actually worth today.

Disney said its reporting failed to take into effect the goodwill effect on its Internet division.

The amended reports are in the company’s favor.

For instance, for the first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2001, Disney said its earnings for the prior year’s period, before the effect of the accounting change, were $440 million, or 21 cents per share.

In the amended report, that figure is $565 million, or 27 cents per share.

WRIGHTWOOD – Firefighters gained full containment Saturday evening of a blaze that destroyed three homes and burned across more than 6,500 acres after being started by a car fire along Interstate 15.

The blaze, which was burning in dry brush about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, has cost $2 million to fight, said Melody Lardner, a fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service.

Less than 300 firefighters continued to battle the blaze Saturday, which continued to burn on the perimeter of the fire lines. At its peak, nearly 1,100 firefighters, a dozen helicopters, 61 fire engines and two air tankers were needed to contain the fire.

No estimate was available on when the blaze would be completely extinguished.

The fire began Wednesday when a car caught fire on the northbound side of Interstate 15.

Flames spread quickly through the dry brush and trees, eventually coming within five miles of the town of Wrightwood — known for its ski resorts and hiking trails.

The fire temporarily knocked out power to nearly 500,000 homes and businesses and destroyed a total of seven structures but caused no injuries.

Authorities on Saturday revised the number of homes destroyed from four to three and said four other buildings were burned.

As firefighters began to get the upper hand Friday, residents from the sparsely populated Swarthout and Lone Pine canyons who were driven away by the fire were allowed to return home.

Highway 138, which was shut down by the flames, reopened on Friday. Interstate 15 had reopened Thursday.

A wildfire that spread Saturday in Lakeside, about 30 miles east of San Diego, burned 150 acres and by 11 p.m. was 50 percent contained, fire officials said.

An evacuation was ordered for about 30 homes in Lakeside but it was lifted when the fire threat lessened, said Robert Ramirez, a dispatch captain with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

SAN DIEGO – A chance encounter at a San Diego mosque led him to Kashmir and a meeting with the man later accused of killing journalist Daniel Pearl. Fighting with the mujahadeen in Chechnya cost him his leg. While working as an FBI informant, he was invited to chat with Osama bin Laden at a terror camp.

Aukai Collins’ jailhouse conversion to Islam took him from a troubled youth in San Diego to the front lines of jihad. And then another change of heart led him to work for the FBI, a story chronicled in his newly-released memoir, “My Jihad.”

Collins’ version of events, which cannot be independently verified, add to mounting evidence that U.S. intelligence officials missed numerous opportunities to unravel the links to terrorists then operating inside the nation’s borders. The book also offers a detailed look at how easily American citizens can slip into the world of Islamic extremism.

In the book’s most sensational claim, Collins writes that three years before the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI agents in Phoenix were “fully aware” of Hani Hanjour, a “scrawny little guy” who later helped fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

An FBI spokesman in Washington admitted that Collins was a paid informant to the agency but said a thorough review has turned up no evidence he ever let agents know about Hanjour.

In 1998, Collins said he passed word to the FBI that wealthy Arabs in Los Angeles had approached him about establishing a firearms training camp in the mountains of Arizona. The FBI made plans to have Collins set up the camp and conduct surveillance on what went on inside.

But a day before the camp’s patrons were to arrive in Phoenix, Collins said then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno pulled the plug on the operation — a move the author calls “a colossal mistake.”

“With time and patience we could have attracted many, if not most of the terrorists to one place, under surveillance, with leads to everyone they knew inside the United States, with all their telephone calls traced, all their e-mails decoded, all their financial transactions calculated,” he writes.

The FBI declined to discuss Collins’ claims.

Collins also said he met but did not work closely with Ken Williams, the Phoenix FBI agent who authored a now-famous memo linking students at Arizona flight schools with a militant Muslim group.

Collins never met bin Laden, but the terrorist leader has links to many of the people he encountered on his travels, from warlords in Chechnya to students in London. In 1999, Collins said he told his CIA handlers about another sterling intelligence opportunity: Osama bin Laden had invited him, through a mutual acquaintance in London, to chat with him in Afghanistan.

The acquaintance, a Bahraini named Abdul Malik, said Collins, as an American able to travel more freely than most Arabs “could offer bin Laden many valuable services.” But his CIA handler, a woman he knew as “Tracy,” told him to forget it.

“I pressed the issue to try to see what the problem was, but all that Tracy would say was that there was no way the United States would approve an American operative going undercover into bin Laden’s camp,” Collins wrote.

His relationship with the CIA goes downhill from there. One chapter in the book is titled, “How the CIA Betrayed Me.” The CIA declined comment.

Born to hippie parents who gave him the Hawaiian name Aukai, pronounced OW’-kai, meaning “of the sea,” Collins was raised by a drug-addicted mother who left him on his own on the streets of San Diego’s laid-back Ocean Beach neighborhood. He took to carrying a .357 Magnum to school, stealing cars, robbing liquor stores and eventually landed in a youth prison. Behind bars, he found Islam.

In some ways, his story has striking similarities to Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam and is now accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb” inside the United States.

But in an interview, Collins said he sees a big difference between himself and Padilla, whom he calls a “low-level messenger boy.” Collins said that, unlike Padilla, he maintained a clear sense of right and wrong.

A few months after his release in 1993, Collins, at age 19, decided he wanted to go to Bosnia to fight for jihad, which he called “the highest act of faith of Islam.” Mohammed Zaky, a San Diego man Collins met at a San Diego mosque, gave him his chance.

Zaky ran the Islamic Information Center of the Americas, a San Diego-based organization that the FBI says served as a clearinghouse for terrorist information. Through his contacts, he offered Collins a chance to fly to Europe and enter Bosnia posing as a journalist with the nonexistent “La Jolla Tribune.” Zaky himself was killed fighting in Chechnya in 1995.

Once overseas, Collins grew frustrated by a missed series of connections, roadblocks and difficult border crossings — a constant problem in his quest for jihad.

Collins headed to South Asia in search of a good fight. He moved quickly through Kashmir and on to Afghanistan, where, in 1993, he met British-born militant Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, who later would be accused of luring Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl to his death. The two parted ways when Saeed invited Collins to participate in a hostage operation in Kashmir.

“I was more shocked than anybody when I found out what he’s accused of doing now,” Collins said in a phone interview. “I wouldn’t have imagined that he would have done something like that.”

Frustrated with commanders who never allowed him to the front lines, Collins returned to San Diego in 1994 and found a job building yachts. But he still yearned for jihad. Kifah Jayyoussi, an associate of Zaky’s working then at the University of California, San Diego, raised money from friends to pay for Collins’ plane ticket to Chechnya.

In Chechnya, Collins teamed up with warlord Omar Ibn al Khattab, an Arab believed to have ties with Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. Collins’ lust for combat earned him the nickname “the crazy American.” He was witness to the brutal execution of Russian soldiers and his leg was badly wounded. He later chose to have it amputated, figuring he could run better with a prothesis.

In 1996, Collins made the fateful decision to walk into the U.S. Embassy in Baku and offer his assistance to the American government. Collins said he was motivated by a jihad leader in Chechnya who betrayed him, and a wave of attacks on tourists in Egypt.

“As I was fighting the Russian army and shedding my blood in the defense of Islam, a bunch of cowards in Egypt were killing old ladies and kids in the name of jihad,” Collins wrote.

The FBI paid him as much as $2,500 a month as an informant from 1996 to 1999, when agents accused him of being a terrorist. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI made him take a polygraph to reassure themselves that he had no advance knowledge of the plot.

Collins’ book, which is dedicated to Zaky and other jihad fighters, was published by The Lyons Press this month.

Collins, who says he works as a bounty hunter seeking U.S. fugitives in Mexico and as a free-lance security consultant, lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Out of concern for his security, he declined to specify where.

While Collins has ended his work with the FBI, he said his experiences have convinced him that the agency is woefully unprepared to fight terrorism.

“They don’t understand and they don’t want to understand what it takes to get inside terrorist cells,” he said. “It’s not just like any white, old cornbread American agent can walk into a terrorist group and be received.”

SACRAMENTO – The Legislature’s newest vision to spur desperately needed rental housing is drawing fire from cities and environmentalists who fear it may blight neighborhoods.

So-called “granny flats,” the small back yard or above-garage units touted nationally for older relatives, college students and other renters, should be easier to build in California, say senior citizens groups, affordable housing activists and real estate agents.

They’ve driven a bill through the state Assembly and almost to the Senate floor to make cities approve secondary units without the public hearings where neighbors often rise up to block them. The bill also makes it easier for developers to add extra apartments or condominiums to projects that include units for moderate- or lower-income people.

“Density bonuses and granny flats are not going to solve our housing crisis. But they are smart growth ways to use land more efficiently,” says Marc Brown, attorney for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. The California Association of Realtors is also sponsoring the bill.

But 45 California cities and their powerful capitol advocate, the League of California Cities, call the bill an assault on their citizens’ free speech and cities’ traditional power to decide how they grow.

“We don’t think it’s appropriate to take the public out of the discussion,” says league lobbyist Daniel Carrigg. “As with any other land use projects, things can be controversial. We have a tradition of promoting and encouraging local discussion.”

Some cities fear a rash of in-law units or “granny flats,” a term that originated in Australia, could overload home-owning neighborhoods with renters and cars. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Planning and Conservation League say the bill could spur unwanted development and blight.

Many older cities already contend with thousands of illegally added second units. But housing advocates say it’s hard to get any approved legally when neighbors intimidate elected officials at public hearings.

Christine Minnehan of Sacramento contended with opponents when she applied to build a garage unit behind her house for family members.

“We had a hearing and a rehearing. I had to organize the neighborhood, meet with everybody and walk them through,” she says. “Eventually, I was able to get the permit. But it was after a substantial delay and a great deal of unpleasantness in the neighborhood.”

Ironically, Minnehan, a former official with the state Department of Housing and Community Development, sponsored the 1982 bill requiring cities to allow secondary units.

“Unfortunately, people come to associate threats from affordable housing to the values of their property, even when it’s seniors,” says Alayna Waldrum, spokeswoman for the California Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

Like other housing bills, the granny flat debate illustrates the conflicts between the state, which is responsible for housing its 35 million residents, and local governments, which control how land gets developed. Meanwhile, an already-critical housing shortage worsens yearly, further stressing middle- and lower-income residents, say builders, activists and, most recently, the state’s Little Hoover Commission.

Brown says the bill, AB1866, by Assemblyman Roderick Wright, D-Los Angeles, aims to overcome obstacles that many cities have erected since 1982 to discourage second units — or extra units in “affordable” projects.

Wright’s bill would make cities approve units that meet their building codes with a simple permit.

Though cities such as Chula Vista say the idea “dramatically undermines a city council’s local land use planning authority,” Daly City has issued permits without hearings or city council votes since 1983.

Unlike some cities where approvals can take months, Daly City charges $100 to approve plans that meet its codes, says Terry Sedik, director of economic and community development. He says the San Mateo County city of 106,000 approved 189 units from 1983 to 1989, then helped legalize 837 illegally built units during the 1990s.

“We don’t get a big influx. It’s 10 or 20 applications a year,” Sedik says. He calls it a “non-regulatory way of creating affordable housing.”

No one knows the exact number of “granny flats,” or “in-law units” in California. The state’s Construction Industry Research Board says it doesn’t track the category. But among thousands of legal units statewide, housing officials say thousands more are built illegally. The Central City Association of Los Angeles estimates Los Angeles alone may have up to 100,000 makeshift garage dwellings. San Francisco may have more than 25,000 illegal secondary units, says the San Francisco Urban Research and Planning Association.

They’re also common in Santa Ana, which has the nation’s most crowded homes, according to recently released U.S. Census data. Supporters of Wright’s bill say difficulties getting permits breed illegal units. In San Francisco, where it’s considered difficult to get secondary units approved, County Supervisor Aaron Peskin recently introduced legislation to make it easier.

The bill’s backers say small in-law units help family members and renters find housing they can afford while increasingly — in a market of escalating home prices — helping owners pay their mortgages.

The bill must clear the Senate’s Appropriations Committee before moving to the Senate floor. If passed, the final word is with Gov. Gray Davis. Davis spokesman Russell Lopez says Davis has not made a decision on the legislation.

SACRAMENTO – It may be the nation’s most populous state and the world’s 5th largest economy, but California’s governor has no official mansion and few places to go in Sacramento for major ceremonies.

Stories abound of the state’s efforts at improvisation. Gov. George Deukmejian once hosted Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain at the Nut Tree Farm in Vacaville, and in 1999, then-Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo stayed in a local hotel during his visit to Sacramento.

But, with the renovation of the old Leland Stanford Mansion, that’s going to change.

It’s been more than a century since the mansion stood as the state of California’s official residence.

Built before the Capitol itself by the former governor, railroad pioneer and founder of Stanford University, the four-story Italianate mansion housed three governors before becoming an orphanage and eventually falling into disrepair. Now, a rehabilitation project has started to restore the building to its Civil War-era glory and give the governor a place for official meetings.

The mansion can be “a center to bring international visitors so that we can show off the historic aspects of the city,” said California first lady Sharon Davis, the honorary chairwoman of the Leland Stanford Mansion Foundation.

California hasn’t had an official governor’s mansion since 1967, when Gov. Ronald Reagan left 1526 H St. in downtown Sacramento, which housed 13 of California’s first families, starting with Gov. George Pardee’s family in 1903. Calling it a “firetrap,” the Reagans campaigned for the construction of a $1.3 million home on the American River for future governors.

But when Democrat Jerry Brown, who lived in the old mansion when his father Edmund “Pat” Brown was governor from 1959 to 1967, took office in 1975, he shunned the Reagans’ home and lived in a studio apartment near the Capitol. He called the newly built mansion a “Taj Mahal,” and the Legislature eventually sold it.

Since then, governors have lived in a leased house in the Sacramento suburbs, where Gov. Gray Davis and his wife currently live. While Davis has resisted plans for a new state-funded executive residence, recent governors have found it increasingly difficult to conduct state protocol business without an official location.

“The Capitol is beautiful, but there should be a place specifically for the governor to use,” said Gayle Wilson, wife of former Gov. Pete Wilson and honorary co-chairwoman of the foundation with Davis. During her husband’s tenure from 1991 to 1999, state visits were often diverted to San Francisco or Los Angeles, where they could provide better accommodations.

Since the early 1990s, Wilson has been working with the foundation to raise money to restore the Stanford Mansion.

“When we started on this project, we never had any thought that this would be a place for the governor to live,” Wilson said. “However, we did feel that the state of California, Sacramento, the governor and the Legislature needed a historic site as a place to entertain foreign dignitaries, to have bill signings and have other historic events.”

Built in 1857, the mansion served as home and office for three governors, most notably Stanford, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad and California’s first Republican governor. It was also the birthplace of his only son, Leland Stanford Jr., in whose memory he later founded Stanford University after his son’s death from typhoid fever shortly before his 16th birthday.

After Stanford’s own death in 1893, his wife Jane donated the building to the Catholic bishop of Sacramento, who converted the mansion into an orphanage. It served as a home to hundreds of children for 90 years, and in 1983, Deukmejian officially declareroject, including a $2.5 million donation from the Stanford family and continued funding from the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The two-year, $17 million rehabilitation project has been divided into two phases. Phase one involves restoration of the exterior and first three floors as well the garden entrance. The foundation is currently raising the $3 million needed for the second phase, which will restore the fourth floor, barn and rest of the garden.

The mansion is expected to be open for state use and public tours after the completion of the first phase in 2004.

LOS ANGELES – Blackouts have ended and wholesale power costs have plummeted, but California’s energy crisis continues to haunt consumers.

Californians aren’t paying any less for electricity even though wholesale power costs one-tenth of what it did when the state Public Utilities Commission approved a 30 percent rate hike 15 months ago.

At the time of the rate hike, the PUC said electricity customers could expect lower bills as power prices fell. But commissioners have since rejected calls for rate reductions, saying the extra cash is needed to keep California’s two biggest utilities afloat and help pay $7 billion in debts.

Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. are collecting hundreds of millions a month more than they are paying for electricity, regulators say. The PUC projects the two utilities will collect an extra $2.7 billion this year.

Under the PUC’s tiered rate structure, owners of large homes and businesses are feeling the biggest bite.

James Crettol says he is selling some of his 2,600 acres of farmland in Kern County, partly because of electricity costs.

“The cost was astronomical,” Crettol, who has joined two dozen other PG&E customers in seeking relief through a complaint filed with the PUC, told the Los Angeles Times. “In 2000, our annual bill was around $350,000. The following year we ended up with a bill about $460,000.”

Cargill Inc., a Bay Area salt refiner, says the high cost of power may force it to make some tough choices.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions within the company about whether we can really afford to stay in California,” said Lori Johnson, a Cargill spokeswoman.

Consumer groups are challenging the PUC, arguing that it has reneged on its stated intentions for the rate-hike money.

“The higher rates have become a slush fund that the PUC wants to use,” said attorney Matt Freedman of the Utility Reform Network.

At its meeting on March 27, 2001, the PUC unanimously voted to raise rates by 3 cents a kilowatt-hour and to make permanent an earlier hike of a penny per kilowatt-hour.

If the rate hike raised more money than needed, the PUC said customers could get relief. “In the future, we can refund revenues that exceed costs,” the PUC decision said.

Today, the commission wants to use the billions of dollars in extra revenues to resolve lawsuits by PG&E and Edison that stem from losses the utilities incurred before the rate increases. In settling a lawsuit by Edison, the PUC allowed the utility to use more than $3 billion in ratepayer money to pay its debts.

Paul Clanon, chief of the PUC energy division, said he anticipates that the agency will approve a 3 percent rate cut this summer or later. And he predicted that PG&E customers would see additional relief in early 2003 and that Edison customers would see rollbacks later that year.

•Senate bills at http://www.senate.ca.gov, then Click the section of the Web site that says “Legislation.” Type in the bill number, author of the bill or some words describing the subject and hit “search.” This will display votes, analyses of the bills, their original language and any amendments. Click “schedule” on the main page and check a feature called “daily file.” Search by bill number for scheduled committee hearings.

Attorneys for EarthFirst! activists Darryl Cherney and the late Judi Bari said at a federal court hearing Friday they would consider dropping unresolved charges against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department to expedite the filing of a judgment in the case.

On June 12 jurors awarded the two activists $4.4 million for violations of First and Fourth Amendment rights by members of the FBI and OPD relating to the investigation of a car bombing that injured Cherney and Bari in 1990. The judgment, however, has not been entered into the court because jurors were undecided on several charges.

The issue of a gag order placed on the jury by federal Judge Claudia Wilken was not resolved on Friday, though Wilken says she will consider reforming the order.

Attorneys for the activists plan to file a motion of dismissal without prejudice on Monday relating to charges of Cherney’s false arrest after the bombing in 1990. The motion would pave the way for the appeals process to start but would not eliminate the plaintiff’s ability to revive the false arrest charges at a later date.

Appeals are expected from both sides in the case but cannot be filed until a judgment is entered into court.

The picture postcard became extremely popular during the first two decades of the 20th century and this era is often referred to as the “golden age of postcards.” Most postcards were published by companies that specialized in the printing of postcards and would usually depicted popular views of a town or important buildings. But during this period people also created their own postcards from a photograph of their home.

The postcard pictured here shows the house at 1511 Edith St. shortly after it was completed in 1908. This area of north-central Berkeley was just being developed at that time and recently completed houses can be seen on the left-hand side of the card and in the background a house is under construction.

The message on the back of the postcard is signed by L. T. Bailey and the number on the pillar of the front porch says 1511. From the 1908 Oakland-Berkeley Directory (available at the Berkeley History Museum) it was easy to discover that L.T. was Lottie T. Bailey, widow of Angelo, and that she lived in the house with Mark G., a student, Lloyd E. a train conductor, Edith C. a teacher, and Effie L. a nurse. Perhaps these were her children, but they may have been a combination of her children and relatives as it was common at the time for extended families to share a house together.

The style of the house is a variation of the Colonial Revival, also known as Classic Box. The exterior treatment of the first floor is typical of a Classic Box with a recessed entry, window bay and narrow clapboard siding. However this house has an extremely tall and steeply-pitched gable roof which shelters a second story and is faced with unpainted brown shingles. In some examples the face of the gabled roof was treated with half-timbering as in a Tudor Revival. The style was quite popular between 1900 and 1910 in Berkeley and Oakland.

These houses were most often built or adapted from house plans that could be ordered from companies such as Alladdin, Gordon-Van Tine, and Radford Homes. The 1910 Gordon-Van Tine catalogue proudly boasted that they “shipped wherever railroads go...we guarantee safe delivery and satisfaction...we save the home-builders of America over $1,000,000 a year.”

Although popular styled houses such as 1511 Edith Street were not individually designed for a specific client or lot, they provided a comfortable and affordable house for the middle class. These types of vernacular structures, looked at from the prospective of cultural geography, social or economic history, contribute as physical artifacts to an understanding of how an average family lived almost one-hundred years ago. Today 1511 Edith Street remains standing proudly, little changed, and a type of home eagerly sought after by contemporary buyers.

Susan Cerny is author of Berkeley Landmarks, and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

It's been the biggest laugh of the year, watching the political yelping about “under God.”

Of course the court ruling was right: Such a slogan does affirm we are a nation of monotheists.

Well, probably a large majority of us are monotheists, even Judaeo-Christians. Does that mean all of us have to pledge loyalty to the Bible? Must we tie national loyalty to any religious belief, even one as general as monotheism? Most of us do not want to be a theocracy like some of the Islamic countries, but some of us do like the idea of being a “Christian nation,” for example.

Maybe a compromise solution is to amend the Constitution to say we are mostly monotheists, so references to “God” are legal but make it clear that other forms of belief are freely tolerated. The label “in God we trust” doesn’t harm our money. There are times when I want to sing “God bless America.”

I suppose I can skip “under God” when I say the pledge – unless the FBI (Federal Bureau of the Inquisition) starts monitoring me for national religious compliance.

If someone poked his head into the California Theater in downtown Berkeley earlier this week to look at the building undergoing seismic renovation, that person would have had to pass through heavy machinery blocking Kitteridge Street traffic, step over torn-up concrete on the sidewalk and seen ripped carpeting and paint tarps strewn over everything. It did not look like a showcase theater due to open in four days.

Theater manager Dale Sophiea sitting in his small cluttered office on the second floor did not seem concerned by the mess. His theater was going to open, as scheduled, on Friday and it was going to look grand. Even if it takes lots of late nights. Amid the hard-hatted contractors with power tools and welding equipment were Sophiea’s floor staff of ticket-takers and concessions sellers painting the trimming.

Walking through the theaters, Sophiea explained the new green paint job is a vast improvement to the “awful” old brown coat (an improvement that might not be noticed by moviegoers seated in the dark). The new green-and-gold color scheme, he said, will be nicely complimented by the new green floral-patterned carpeting, carpeting which was yet to be laid down.

The cosmetic overhaul is a subsequent improvement during the building’s structural retrofitting. Outside are the external I-beams holding the brick building in a seismically sound iron cage. The earthquake safety upgrade does not affect the size or shape of the auditorium inside, which at 650 seats will still be the largest movie house in Berkeley.

Until last year, the California Theater was the second-largest house in Berkeley, behind the UC Theater on University Avenue. Both theaters, owned by Landmark Theater Corporation (who also own the nearby Shattuck and Act1&2 theaters) were in need of expensive seismic improvements. The California was upgraded and the UC abandoned. The reasons for the loss of the seminal repertory theater are manifold, involving feasibility and return-on-investment. The future of the UC Theater as a cinema and the structural integrity of its large, acoustically-designed auditorium are in dispute between community groups, the owners of the building, and the city of Berkeley, but the chance of it returning to its former glory – a large house screening a calendar of daily rotated movie programming which local buffs held in so high esteem – seem slim.

The California opens this weekend with a new, longer version of “Cinema Paradiso,” the romantic, nostalgic Italian film about a director remembering the theater in the village of his boyhood where he learned to love movies. It was a monster hit in 1988 (it won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film) and now has 51 more minutes of rural movie magic.

Landmark wanted to open the California with “Men In Black II” but Sophiea said he pushed for “Cinema Paradiso” because “I wanted to open with something more poetic.” The film about space monsters with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones opens at the California next Wednesday, and it will be business as usual.

At the same time the California re-opens, a small but essential part of Berkeley cinema life is going away. A few blocks down Shattuck Avenue from the California is the independently owned Fine Arts Cinema, which for last four years has been screening bold programming of classics, rarities, art films, documentaries, shorts, and revived popular fare. This Sunday will be the last screening before it goes dark in anticipation of the building being razed and replaced.

When it opened in 1998, the Fine Arts created the third point in the Berkeley film lover’s triangle, with the UC Theater and the Pacific Film Archive in the Berkeley Art Museum (since moved to campus near Bowditch Street). The UC screened new film-festival picks and older classics and the PFA tended toward serious international scholarship. The Fine Arts, rounding out the triptych, offered overlooked gems trolled from the tireless festival travels of co-owner Keith Arnold and inspired double-bills of the difficult and the fluffy: a Wisconsin love-in pairing “Straight Story,” David Lynch’s dark-edged pastoral story of a man and his lawnmower, with “American Movie” and its failure-proned savant Mark Borshardt; or the recent double-feature with Humphrey Bogart’s Nazi subversion in the ageless favorite “Casablanca” with a hypothetical Nazi defeat of England in the rarely seen “It Happened Here.”

As the UC Theater proved, running a single-screen art-house theater is not easy. For four years the owners and operators of the Fine Arts Cinema – Keith Arnold, Emily Charles, and Josephine Scherer – worked their labor of love as programmers, projectionists, ticket sellers, janitors, popcorn-poppers and candy-bar stockers. Ticket sales were often so meager they would not cover the overhead.

Even so, they are not giving up even as their theater is torn down. The landlord of the building to be built on the site, Patrick Kennedy (also owner of the new Gaia building downtown), has entered an agreement with the Fine Arts Cinema to include a 7,000 square foot theater in the new building, along with museum space for the Cinema Preservation Society, a non-profit organization tangentially associated with the Fine Arts Cinema. Like the financially troubled Roxie Theater in San Francisco, non-profit status may ease the difficulties of operating an independent art cinema. The new building is expected to be completed, and the theater re-opened, in 2004. In the meantime Arnold will be taking his movies on the road, screening at various pick-up locations in the Bay Area and abroad.

For the next two years the East Bay’s discriminating moviegoers will have narrowed cinema options. Even as the Pacific Film Archive provides both challenging work (a series of Armenian documentaries this summer) and amusing classics (a month of Preston Sturges comedies in July) there will doubtless be a diaspora of die-hard film buffs toward the remaining rep-houses in San Francisco.

For their final weekend, the Fine Arts Cinema is going out as they came in: with the beautifully animated 1926 silent film “The Adventures Of Prince Achmed” in which German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger uses wonderfully intricate paper cut-out silhouettes to tell a story of magic carpets and enchanted kingdoms. A new original score will be performed live by the Georges Lammam Ensemble. It’s the kind of cinema experience Berkeley has come to expect from the Fine Arts, and will be missed in their absence.

It’s 3 p.m. in West Berkeley, and there are a dozen restless 4-year-olds at the Oceanview YMCA Head Start Program. They do their best to sit still and listen to the story being read to them, but their eyes and minds wander around the room as sunlight leaks in through a couple of windows.

The storyteller isn’t your usual preschool teacher: He’s about 6-foot-5 and barely fits in his junior-sized chair. He’s also 17 years old and sports cornrows. But Berkeley High rising senior K.K. Alexander doesn’t mind the reading time, as long as he eventually gets to stretch his legs.

When Alexander finishes the story (something about Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam and a cannon), the preschoolers break out to the yard, complete with playstructure, foursquare court and picnic tables. But despite the playground equipment, the biggest attraction is Alexander and three of his fellow volunteers. The kids chase them, try to steal a basketball from their hands, and climb on them like jungle gyms. The young men are all exceptionally tall and athletic, and there’s a good reason for that: they’re the founding members of Dynasty Basketball.

Started by El Cerrito High’s Jonathon Smith and his stepfather, Berkeley High graduate and Cal Hall of Famer Gene Ransom, Dynasty Basketball is an AAU summer team for promising high school ballers. They practice several times a week and have finished in the top two in all four tournaments they’ve entered this summer. Next month, they will jet off to Las Vegas for the Adidas Big Time Tournament, the most prestigious prep basketball event in the nation. At first glance, they’re just like most other AAU teams, a collection of some of the best players in the region who are hoping to make the leap to college ball.

But Dynasty Basketball is about more than just basketball. Ransom, a former freshman coach at Berkeley High, made sure when he agreed to coach the team that the players would be committed to community service and hitting the books. Starting with Smith and boyhood friend Alexander, they recruited players from schools like St. Joseph, Kennedy, and Salesian to fill out the team.

While the players may not be the kind of stars that recruiters gossip about, they all have a chance to move on to the next level, and Ransom wants to make sure they don’t miss out.

“They asked me (to coach) because they knew I’m a coach that’s concerned with them as true student-athletes,” Ransom says. “My kids didn’t feel as if they were getting enough from their high schools. They know I’m about them, not about myself.”

Ransom coached the freshman team at Berkeley High during the 2000-01 season, but decided to step away after his proposals for study programs and community service for the players fell on deaf ears. With the budget getting tighter every year at BHS, the support system for younger players can be lacking. In fact, with the newest set of budget cuts, the freshman team has been eliminated for the upcoming school year.

So when Davis asked Ransom to help organize a team for him and his friends, Ransom jumped at the chance. While taking classes at the New College of California in San Francisco, he had written a proposal for a comprehensive program for high school athletes, complete with study sessions and community service as equal components with practice and games. Dynasty Basketball is the beginning stages of that vision.

“These kids were overlooked, and now they’re getting a chance to show how good they are,” Ransom says. “A lot of AAU teams want to stack up with known star players.”

For Smith and the other players, basketball is admittedly the main focus. But they enjoy their time at Head Start, sporting huge grins as they show off fancy dribbling moves and hoist kids over their shoulders.

“We probably practice just as much as any other AAU team, and that’s important to us,” Smith says. “But when we’re not playing, we’re doing something as a group. This lets us do something constructive with our off-time, instead of just hanging around.”

It’s hard to say who has more fun during playtime, the little kids or the big kids. Head Start Director Pam Shaw says having the players come in is the highlight of the preschoolers’ week, especially since the Head Start staff trained the players on how to interact with them.

“The kids look so forward to seeing them,” Shaw says. “It has really escalated basketball to new high among four-year-olds. It’s something you don’t really see in most programs.”

The team visits Head Start once a week, and they recently finished painting the Oceanview YMCA building. Later this summer, they will volunteer at homeless shelters, which Ransom thinks will give them some perspective on the importance of education.

“I feel this stuff makes these kids realize basketball can only go so far,” Ransom says. “When I finished school and got into coaching, I started to see how the system can take advantage of athletes. When someone is done with you, they can just throw you away. These young men have to be ready for when they aren’t playing anymore.”

Paula Gerstenblatt, mother to Smith and wife to Ransom, encouraged the two to get the program going and has been instrumental in fundraising efforts. She knew Ransom wouldn’t let the players just work on basketball all summer.

“The team gives them an opportunity to experience things that they might normally miss at this age,” Gerstenblatt says. “If you can prod them out of their little world of basketball into other things, it can only help.”

Russell Murrey

Gene Ransom 841-7835 205-3395

Tried at Berkeley High to start afterschool program, but it never materialized. So I went independent, started own AAU team.

There are kids out there with just as much talent, just lack being taught basketball skills.

They are role models, more than just players. Came up had a lot of mentors, nowadays lacking in positive mentors, just giving back what people have given to me over the years.

Resources are there, what I came to find out is that some programs are not really fro the kids as far as building character, teaching them about life as much as basketball.

Grad 75. Cal 75-78.

Paula Gerstenblatt 741-1272

agreed to coach the kids, group of parents got together, really team formed because of lack of this kind of program at HS level. What we wanted to do for our kids was provide a more nurturing experience for academic, athletic, social skills. Based on proposal Gene New College of California, proposed at BHS, plan to have kids reading and doing comm service. Used that as springboard assign book to read, do comm service as part of team requirement. Began just trying to put together team with schedule. Not familiar with AAU circuit. Fumbled way through dark. Fundraising for a fraction of costs. Garage sale, EC Honda donated money. Pooled money, four tournaments so far, taken second in three and first in one. SNJ spring league. Going to Vegas Big Time Tournament, Elite 8 at Cal.

Impetus came from how a lot of athletes are not offered a full development. 2.0 effort on court would not be tolerated. What’s blossomed has been camaraderie and friendships. 20 years from now look around and see friends that came from this. Other piece is that really fortunate to have Doug Murray SJSU HOF and Gene.

Head Start connection, some kids done comm service in their communities. Natural linkage to Berk/Alb Head Start. Gives them opp to experience things that they might miss at this age. If can prod them out of their little world of basketball into other things.

Pam Shaw Berkeley Head Start director 848-9092. 925-457-7308 cell

Fun having kids there that aren’t little kids. Takes them away from just being basketball players. Had to train them more about how to play with the kids, how to read stories. The kids really look up to them, literally and figuratively.

Mutual benefits are incredible, and kids get a chance to run wild. Our kids need everything we can give them.

Birth to five, preschool, thorugh Berk/Alb YMCA. Funded to serve close to 500 kids, now have 9 centers in east bay. focuses on kids and families, low income. Get kids ready for school.

office used to be gym, Gene played basketball here. Fond feelings, working on whole child, natural progression, inclination to do work within community.

Did apply for grant Youth Involvement, federal government, to expand program to target high school athletes. October. Try to work with coaches in area to have more kids do community service with us. Interesting target, kids often don’t do much outside of school other than athletics.

You can take “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance but you can't take yourself out from under god. Big Brother rules.

He has deceived all the nations (Rev. 12:9), father of lies, god of this world. Orwell's “1984” should have been called“3990 BC - 2010 AD.”

The last time a nation was under God with a capital "G" was Judah when the Jews returned from Babylon under Ezra and Zerubbabel. Israel, the 10 northern tribes which the US and Britain came from, hasn't been under God from the beginning of its existence after the death of King Solomon. We don't even keep the sabbath, one of the 10 Commandments. The greatest country on earth and we don't know who we are in the Bible.

So you have freedom of religion?

You can have any religion you want but you're all under the same god, the god of disinformation. I pledge my allegiance to God. He's going to send a special messenger with the truth – a prophet like Elijah who is going to turn hearts back to the real God.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Most of them were born a decade or two after Elvis Presley died. But the kids watching Disney’s new “Lilo & Stitch” at a screening in Memphis got a chuckle when the small blue space alien Stitch did an Elvis impersonation in a white jumpsuit.

And that made the folks from Graceland happy, too.

“We’re going to have millions of young kids discovering Elvis and asking their parents if they’ve ever heard of this guy,” said Jack Soden, president of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc.

It’s a big year for Graceland, the center of a multimillion-dollar business owned by Elvis’ sole heir, Lisa Marie Presley. Aug. 16 is the 25th anniversary of Presley’s death in 1977 at the Memphis mansion, and he is already getting new attention.

This week, RCA Records released a version of his 1968 “A Little Less Conversation” to radio and commercial outlets. “Elvis vs. JXL — a Little Less Conversation,” remixed into a techno groove by Junkie XL, has already hit No. 1 in Britain.

Also this week, RCA/BMG Heritage released a four-CD box set, “Elvis: Today, Tomorrow & Forever,” with 100 previously unreleased tracks, mostly alternate takes of lesser-known material. And an album of Elvis’ 30 No. 1 hits is due out in September.

As for “Lilo & Stitch,” it was not planned to coincide with the Elvis anniversary. Disney came to Graceland more than two years ago with the idea of including Elvis music in the movie.

“Then they began weaving Elvis more and more into the movie and it became a multi-tier series of permissions and licenses, and of course we were getting more excited by the minute,” Soden said.

Presley’s music runs throughout the animated movie. Lilo is a lonely young girl in Hawaii who consoles herself with Elvis records that belonged to her deceased parents. She has no friends until she adopts Stitch, the mischievous alien she thinks is a dog.

The movie opened Friday, and there was an invitation-only show the night before in Memphis, followed by an elaborate luau at Graceland put on by Disney.

Hula dancers, Hawaiian torches and banquet tables with thatched roofs greeted the more than 600 guests, who included business associates of Graceland and Disney and their families.

“The day we decided to use Elvis music in the movie we didn’t think we would be here celebrating at Graceland,” said Dean DeBlois, co-writer and director of the film.

Eight Elvis songs are in the movie, and making Lilo an Elvis fan helped round out her character, DeBlois said.

“It would make her a little different from other girls her age today who are listening to the latest pop bands,” he said. “We have one scene where Lilo is alone. She’s lonely and feeling kind of sorry for herself so we picked ’Heartbreak Hotel’ for that one.”

Presley made three movies in Hawaii and staged two of his best-known concerts there: a benefit for the USS Arizona in 1961 and “Aloha From Hawaii” in 1973.

DeBlois and his partner, Chris Sanders, got a private tour of Graceland. One long hallway is lined with Presley’s gold and platinum records.

“I turned one time and I was right at ’Blue Hawaii.’ I couldn’t believe it,” Sanders said. “I walked a couple of feet and there was ’Rock-A-Hula.”’

The St. Mary’s High administration will name a new boys’ head basketball coach on Monday, Athletic Director Jay Lawson confirmed Friday.

Lawson declined to identify the new coach on Friday, as an official announcement won’t be released until after the weekend, but did say the hire is from outside the current staff and will also teach Spanish, the same position held by former coach Jose Caraballo. That eliminates former assistant coach Mark Olivier, who was one of the four finalists for the job. Olivier confirmed his plan to take over the head coaching job at Hercules High next season.

Lawson also said Friday that the school’s staff had met with most of the returning players, and all affirmed their plan to stay at St. Mary’s.

Victim was apparently ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’ police said

Flowers and photographs marked the spot where Roysel Marshall-Darrow was stabbed to death Wednesday evening. Family and friends gathered at the site on Haste Street near Telegraph Avenue to remember the man they called a good father, son, husband and friend. They made a small, temporary memorial against the outside wall of Rochdale UC co-op, and told stories about the gregarious man they knew.

All in attendance said Marshall-Darrow was a person unlikely to be involved in a violent altercation.

A stranger stabbed Marshall-Darrow three times while he was putting money into a parking meter on the 2400 block of Haste Street, police and witnesses said. Police arrested a suspect, but say they don’t know whyMarshall-Darrow was murdered.

“A motive hasn’t been determined,” said Berkeley police Lt. Ed McBride. “It appeared the victim was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Lamar Mitchell, 23, of Pittsburgh is in police custody under suspicion of the stabbing. An arraignment originally set for Friday was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Lt. McBride said the attacker approached Marshall-Darrow on the north side of Haste Street. Marshall-Darrow turned from the attacker before being stabbed repeatedly: once in the heart, once in the side and one time in the arm.

Marshall-Darrow was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland and pronounced dead upon arrival. He died as a result of stab wounds to his chest, said Supervising Coroner Frank Gentle of the Alameda County Coroner’s Office.

Marshall-Darrow, 41, was born in Berkeley. Friend Gavin Housch said that he loved Telegraph Avenue and enjoyed getting coffee there periodically, including when he attended U.C. Berkeley twenty years ago. He lived in a home in Hamet in Southern California with his wife and three children and commuted to Northern California a couple of times a month to work. He was a trained electrician who worked as a power lineman for San Francisco Muni. A memorial is scheduled 3 p.m. Sunday at the Rose Garden in Berkeley.

I’m sorry people are so offended by the desire of atheists and agnostics to be recognized as a legitimate and welcome part of the national fabric, as loyal citizens, and as worthy of the same respect that people of different faiths profess to pay each other.

I’m sick of being assumed by many to lack ethics because I don't believe in God. I love and care for my family and friends. I respect and look out for my neighbors and fellow community members. I believe in democracy and I vote regularly. I work, volunteer, and practice random acts of kindness.

Godless does not equal amoral. This ruling is long overdue. I don't undersand the controversey.

Do we have separation of church and state or don't we? Are those of us who don't believe in God equal citizens or aren't we?

NEW YORK – The two surviving members of The Who decided Friday to resume their scheduled three-month U.S. tour despite the sudden death of bassist John Entwistle, their bandmate of nearly four decades.

“The band decided to recommence the tour beginning at the Hollywood Bowl (a Monday night show),” according to a message posted on guitarist Pete Townshend’s Web site.

The first show will serve as “a tribute to John Entwistle,” the band said in a separate statement.

Pino Palladino, a British session player who has worked on Townshend’s solo projects, will fill in for Entwhistle, the Web site said. The band intends to complete the full tour, and will reschedule two dates postponed after the death.

The band’s name will be the same, but it won’t be the same Who.

Whenever the band took the stage, Roger Daltrey provided the sound and Townshend the fury. Off to the side, frozen except for the fingers flying across his fretboard, stood “The Ox” — Entwistle.

Entwistle, a player of restraint in a band of excess, died Thursday of an apparent heart attack at a Las Vegas hotel. An autopsy was scheduled in Las Vegas to determine the exact cause of death, with the results of blood and lab tests expected to take two to 12 weeks, said Clark County Coroner Ron Flud.

But Las Vegas authorities said there was no sign of trauma, no sign of violence and no drug paraphernalia in Entwistle’s hotel room. There was no word on funeral arrangements, and Entwistle’s family issued a call for privacy.

Entwistle, who was on medication for a heart condition, was 57. Thirty-eight of those years were spent with The Who, which he co-founded as a London teen.

Entwistle was “probably the most influential bassist in rock music,” said rock critic Bruce Eder of the All Music Guide. Total Guitar magazine named him as bassist of the millennium in 2000, selecting Entwistle over contemporaries Paul McCartney of the Beatles, Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

“The quietest man in private but the loudest onstage,” Wyman said of his late friend. “He was unique and irreplaceable.”

Entwistle’s death came one day before the band was scheduled to open its tour in Las Vegas. That show was postponed, along with a second show set for Saturday night in Irvine, Calif.

Fans in Las Vegas turned out at The Joint, the 1,800-seat theater where The Who had been scheduled to perform. The Who movie “Quadrophenia” was playing instead.

YOKOHAMA, Japan – What a time and place for the first World Cup meeting between Brazil and Germany — in the final, for the trophy, with all the world watching.

“We have been looking for this game for so many years in Brazil,” said Carlos Alberto Parreira, who coached his nation to the 1994 title. “I would say that the hierarchy has been restored by this Germany-Brazil final.”

Brazil has won four World Cup titles and Germany three. Of the 12 World Cup finals since World War II, 11 have included one of those two nations, with Argentina’s 1978 victory over the Netherlands the only exception.

“Both teams have a great tradition,” Brazilian forward Rivaldo said. “If Brazil wants to be champions, we have to respect Germany. Not fear them, respect them.”

Germany won its semifinal, 1-0 over co-host South Korea on Tuesday in Seoul. Brazil did its part a night later, defeating Turkey 1-0 in Saitama to match the Germans of 1982, 1986 and 1990 as the only nation to make the final three straight times.

“Brazil is the best you can get,” said Oliver Kahn, Germany’s brilliant goalkeeper. “Individually, they have world-class players at every position. But the sum of best individuals doesn’t necessarily make the best team and I think we can beat them. My gut feeling tells me that we are going to be the world champions, but I can’t explain why.”

It’s an unlikely time for the teams’ first World Cup meeting. Both nations struggled in qualifying and were considered by some long shots even to reach the quarterfinals.

Brazil was just 9-6-3 in qualifying — unheard of mediocrity in the land of samba soccer — getting in only with a victory over lowly Venezuela in its final game. Germany needed to beat Ukraine in a playoff to make it.

“Nobody really expected us to even go to the round of 16,” Germany coach Rudi Voeller said.

Brazil won the title in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994, earning praise much of the time for its stylish attacks. West Germany captured the championship in 1954, 1974 and 1990, sometimes criticized for its lack of imagination — and ability to flop in front of officials to gain unwarranted penalty kicks.

There’s little doubt which style most fans prefer. At its best, Brazilian soccer is a painter’s palette. At its worst, German soccer is a wrecking ball, shattering opponents with brute strength and bland-but-effective relentlessness.

“Despite the criticisms that were leveled at us because of the lack of style, lack of flair, in actual fact we implemented the coach’s instructions,” Germany’s Michael Ballack said after the semifinal win.

Ballack, who scored the only goals in the quarterfinal against the United States and in the semifinal, will miss Sunday’s game while serving a suspension for getting two yellow cards. Brazil seems supremely confident going in.

“It will be a match between the most attacking team and the most defensive team, who has only given away one goal,” Brazil’s Roberto Carlos said. “The game will focus on the defensive tactics.”

In the past decade, the nations have met five times, with Brazil going 3-1-1. Brazil won 2-1 in a 1998 game in Germany, then routed an under-strength German team 4-0 in Mexico at the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Nutrition activist Joy Moore made it official this week: She will not run for the Board of Education.

Moore, a community outreach worker, expressed strong interest in running earlier this year, but said this week she will not pursue office.

“There’s enough people running,” she said, referring to the seven candidates who have declared for the three slots on the board up for election in November.

When Moore publicly expressed interest in April, only four candidates had entered the race.

The field now includes incumbents Shirley Issel and Terry Doran, parent activists Nancy Riddle, Derick Miller and Cynthia Papermaster, Berkeley High School discipline dean Robert McKnight and recent BHS graduate Sean Dugar.

Moore, who serves on the Child Nutrition Advisory Committee, a parent group which advises the board, said she will actively support “a candidate or two” in the race. One of those candidates, she said, will be Doran. Moore has not decided on any others.

In April, Moore, who is African-American, raised child nutrition and racial diversity on the board as key issues. This week she said the emergence of two African-American candidates, McKnight and Dugar, had allayed some of her concerns about an adequate minority presence on the board.

But, Moore said she hopes some Latino candidates step forward.

“I don’t think Latinos have representation on the board right now,” she said, in a swipe at board Vice-President Joaquin Rivera.

“I’ve tried to do my best,” Rivera replied.

Rivera’s seat is not up for election this year. School board member John Selawsky does not face re-election either.

There is talk of installing Santa Rosa lights at Adeline and Fairview, because of the recent death there. But there is a much more effective alternative: Hawk lights.

Hawk lights, used in Tucson, are similar to ordinary traffic lights. They are mounted on poles and masts, and when a pedestrian or bicyclist activates them, they turn yellow and then red, stopping traffic so people can cross.

Santa Rosa lights are embedded in the crosswalk, where they are less visible, and they flash to warn cars that a pedestrian is crossing.

It costs $40,000 to install Hawk lights at an intersection, a bit more than the $35,000 that it costs for Santa Rosa lights.

But Hawk lights are much more effective than Santa Rosa lights. Virtually all drivers stop for Hawk lights, because they look like red traffic lights.

Many drivers don't stop for Santa Rosa lights, because people do not know that flashing lights at ground level mean they should stop.

Santa Rosa lights are particularly ineffective during the day, when they are less visible, so they probably would not have stopped the recent death at Adeline and Fairview.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A man who is under house arrest while awaiting sentencing in a murder case had had enough of his parents. So he volunteered to go to jail — early.

Michael Kempker II, 20, contacted the Cole County sheriff’s department late Tuesday night and said he was having trouble at home. He said he wanted to leave before the situation escalated, Sheriff John Hemeyer said.

The sheriff escorted Kempker back to jail, where he has been well-behaved, Hemeyer said.

Kempker had been under house arrest since Dec. 31, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the Nov. 11 beating death of Paul Thrasher, 20. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors plan to recommend no more than 30 years in prison, as opposed to the maximum of life.

Prosecutors say Thrasher was beaten to death and run over with his own vehicle. His body was found in a ditch near Russellville nearly two days later.

Library police hunt young girl

LITTLETON, Colo. — A 12-year-old girl must appear in court for failing to return one of four books she checked out for a research project on dolphins.

Marisa Gohr had already returned three of the four books to the Bemis Public Library in Littleton when the summons arrived. She returned the last book a week after the summons.

“I was kind of scared,” Gohr said about receiving her summons from the Littleton Municipal Court. “I was worried because I’ve never been to court before and I’m so young.”

Officials at the library said a summons is sent out only after several weeks pass and repeated attempts are made to get the book back.

After the summons came, the books were returned and $9 in fines was paid.

When Marisa’s court date came Tuesday, her mother went for her because she didn’t want to take her daughter out of summer school.

Not good enough, according to the court. The judge told Norma Gohr that her daughter, who is named on the summons, is the one who has to appear in court. A new hearing was set for July 9.

Since she has already paid her $9, Marisa will need only to show the court her library receipt and pay a $15 court fee to have her case dismissed.

Marisa said the experience has made her hesitant to check out anything from the library in the future.

Lately, she said, “I just photocopy stuff from books.”

A perfect eighteen years

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. — Eric Samrov has never missed a day of school; in 13 years that’s roughly 2,340 school days in a row.

He graduates from Gloversville High School Saturday with a perfect attendance record dating back to kindergarten — repeating a feat of perfection accomplished two years ago by his older brother, Adam Samrov.

Besides minor colds, the brothers said they never got sick during school weeks. Neither had chicken pox, and the more severe illnesses seemed to come up during vacations and summer breaks.

“It’s not that difficult. You just wake up every morning, hope not to be sick and go to school,” said 17-year-old Eric.

The brothers said there was no competition between them. But having made it late into senior year without missing a day, Eric said his focus was set on making it through all 13 years without missing a day.

“If I was dead, I wouldn’t come to school. If I was dying, I wouldn’t come to school,” he said. “That’s pretty much (it).”

Shana Levy (BDP 6/20/02) would like to turn the clock a few years back when liberals of her kind succeeded in preventing pro-Palestinian voices from sharing the progressive platform.

In those times the code word was “ too controversial”. Now the code word is violence and/or terror. Ms. Levy is troubled by the Pro-Palestinian presence at the recent “Not in Our name” peace rally and equating the pro-palestinian with supporting violence only reveals her biases and significant blind spots. Her failure to recognize that the Palestinian movement wants justice and peace, which means freedom from Israeli occupation and Palestinian state along side Israel is significant. Her failure to speak of Israeli violence is inexcusable.

Her refusing to join the rally she came to support is sad. This double standards and blind spots can coexist with progressive ideals only for a time before something will give way and or get exposed.

The natural progression is that Ms. Levy will find herself increasingly comfortable watching FOX cable TV and agreeing with its right wing commentators' views of the Palestinians as violent terror loving people while being fed the rest of that channel’s crap. This transformation of a “progressive” has occurred many times before, and is exemplified by the neo-con magazines Commentary and the New Republic.

In the mean time, the progressive, real peace loving communities and movement should resist cheap shots and blackmail from the pseudo-progressive types like Shana Levy.

A day after Bay Area commuters saw BART fares and Golden Gate Bridge tolls rise, AC Transit released the specifics of its bus fare and pass-price increases. All East Bay Bus riders will pay higher fares starting Sept. 1, except for youth who will see a considerable discount.

Late Thursday, the AC Transit Board of directors voted 4-2 to pass an amended plan that will hike adult fairs from $1.35 to $1.50. Discount fairs including seniors and the disabled, will go up a dime from 65 cents to 75 cents. Youth prices are currently, $1.35 and will be reduced to 75 cents.

Transbay bus riders will see a sharpest fare increase. Commuting across the Bay Bridge will now be $3 instead of $2.50.

The 10-ride book will undergo a slight makeover in addition to its increase. Instead of a book it will now be a prepaid electronic pass with each ride deducted from a magnetic card. The price will increase from $11.50 to $13, and the discount rate will go up from $5.50 to $6.50. The 31-day pass for adults will increase just a dollar, from $49 to $50, while the same pass for seniors and the disabled will go up two dollars to $15.

AC Transit also created a day pass, which is a new option for East Bay bus riders. The $5 pass is good for unlimited rides and transfers within a 24 hour period. The discount rate for the new pass is $3.

The first price change to go into effect will be the sharp decrease in price for the youth pass. Beginning August first passengers between the age of 5 and 17 will only pay $15 for the 31-day pass, down $12 from its old rate. A yearly pass of $150 dollars for youth riders is still in the works. It should be ready in late August, in time for the new school year, said AC Transit representative Mike Mills. The same yearly pass will be free for children who qualify for food vouchers. The criteria for eligibility of this pass are still being determined, and the transit service is still looking for support to subsidize the plan.

AC Transit said that the objective of all the proposals is to generate more fare revenue because of a slump in sales tax revenues.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved a $552,000 facelift for Berkeley’s Live Oak Park and Recreation Center.

The state-funded project is slated to begin construciton Aug. 28. Project designs began a year ago.

The heavily-used north Berkeley park and recreation center were recently determined as not safe during an earthquake. The primary goal of the rebuilding venture is to provide a “seismic structural upgrade” that will improve safety for the community, said Lisa Caronna, director of Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront.

“It’s deteriorated over the years due to deferred maintenance” Caronna said. “Our goal, first and foremost is to improve seismic safety,” she said, adding, “The park is desperately in need of a make-over.”

Live Oak Park opened in 1916, and the Recreation Center in 1956. The park and Recreation center covers 5.5 acres off Shattuck Avenue and Berryman Street, and has a 200-capactiy social hall, two basketball courts, and lighted tennis and volleyball courts as well. It is one of three recreation centers in Berkeley, along with Frances Albrier Community Center and James Keeney Recreation Center.

Dan Belson, associate civil engineer for the City of Berkeley is the project manager for the rebuilding project, officially called a “seismic retrofit.”

“When dealing with an existing facility,” Belson said, “the first goal is to do work with the least amount of destruction to the building.”

Belson outlined the architectural plans for the project, which involves modifying the existing walls, not tearing them down, to provide enough resistance for an earthquake. “We will strengthen the walls to act as one,” Belson said.

Belson specified three rooms of the recreation center – the Fireside room, Activity room, and Game room – as areas in which windows will be replaced by walls to be tied into the foundation, the existing walls, and the roof to provide more strength.

“We use the 1906 earthquake as a model to determine the maximum probable force a building can withstand,” Belson said. He explained that seismic upgrade projects such as this one build around that model.

Though earthquake-proofing is at the top of the construction agenda, the rebuilding will also improve handicapped accessibility to the recreation center on the Shattuck Avenue side. It will open a skylight in the corridor, improve the mechanical and electrical systems and provide internal repairs. Included in the plan are a more usable kitchen and basic renovations such as painting.

Belson said the project will take six months to complete. An expansion is not part of the rebuilding project.

Live Oak Park and Recreation Center houses a variety of year-round programs, everything from after-school programs and a Teen Club, to puppy training, swing dancing and Japanese Taiko drumming. It can also be reserved and rented out for special events.

“It is great for North Berkeley to have this,” said Caronna. After the rebuilding, Caronna is confident about Live Oak’s role in Berkeley.

“It will be a much more welcoming environment for the community,” she said.

The contract has been awarded to Angotti and Reilly of San Francisco. The money for the project is coming from Prop. 12, a bond measure passed at the state level that granted $500,000 for the project. Funding also came from the city’s Capital Improvement Program, which pitched in $200,000.

The Angotti and Reilly bid will leave the city with apprxoiamtely $148,000 left over from the original grant, approved by voters in 2000.

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge ruled on Friday to stop the implementation of a law that would have required the nation’s biggest bankers to include credit card “warnings” in monthly customer statements.

The ruling, handed out by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell in Sacramento, comes three days before the law was set to go into effect.

A group of high-powered financial corporations, including Chase Manhattan Bank USA, CitiBank and MNBA America Bank, filed the suit a month ago to stop the law that would require the companies to warn customers about how long it takes to pay off balances by just paying the minimum monthly payment.

The ruling comes as a shock to many consumer advocate groups who worked on the bill, signed by Gov. Gray Davis last year, who say the credit card companies never raised any of these concerns before, even though they actively participated in designing the legislation.

“We’re disappointed,” said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, named as a co-defendant in the case with the state Department of Consumer Affairs. “A good consumer law is postponed as a result of the bankers waiting to file a 11th-hour lawsuit over a law they helped negotiate.”

At least a dozen corporate lawyers appeared in court on Friday to argue the law would interfere with interstate banking, which is illegal under federal law.

The new law would have required the companies to send the warnings only to customers who make just the minimum payment for six months in a row. Credit card companies that have monthly payments of 10 percent or more of the entire balance are exempt.

Howard N. Cayne, an attorney for the Washington D.C.-based firm representing the banks, said that because adding the warnings would be costly, banks would have no other choice than to increase their minimum monthly payments. States are not allowed to pass laws that interfere with monthly payment schedules or interest.

“National bank powers trump the state law,” Douglas Jordan, senior counsel for the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, told the judge.

Although Damrell scolded the plaintiffs for waiting until the last minute to file the lawsuit, he said he had “serious concerns” about the law.

He ordered both sides to research the issue and told the bankers to perform a cost-benefit analysis to prove the warnings would be burdensome. Both parties will turn in their reports in October and the case will be reheard on Nov. 8.

SAN JOSE — Twice within the last two years, Apple Computer Inc. executives sold company stock worth millions of dollars just weeks before Apple warned of disappointing financial results. Each earnings warning sent shares tumbling.

While the sales could have an innocent explanation, analysts consider them unusual because at no other point during the period did any other clusters of large sell-offs by Apple executives occur.

Big stock sales among executives are common, especially in the high-tech sector, where stock options are often a major part of compensation.

But insider-trading analysts consider the Apple executives’ sales unusual because the people involved, though they were mostly exercising stock options, tend to be less active stock sellers.

“These sells seem to be well-timed,” said Lon Gerber, director of insider research at Thomson Financial, coming as they did on the eve of two of three Apple earnings warnings over a period that began in August 2000.

“It’s always a bit suspicious” when executives sell before a warning, said Martin Friedman, director of research at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc.

The Cupertino-based computer maker defended the sales, which were questioned in a column last week on a Web site for Mac enthusiasts called Resexcellence.com.

Apple denied any notion of impropriety.

“I can assure you that no executive would have exercised options had they believed we would not meet our original guidance for the quarter,” Fred Anderson, Apple’s chief financial officer, said in a written statement.

Anderson, one of the executives who sold stock prior to the warnings, refused further comment. So did all the others after attempts by The Associated Press to reach each individually.

The biggest flurry of sales — 1.9 million shares worth more than $49 million — occurred between April 22 and May 31, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and were executed by Anderson and five other executives: senior vice president of applications Sina Tamaddon; senior vice president and general counsel Nancy Heinen; senior vice president of software engineering Avie Tevanian; senior vice president of finance Peter Oppenheimer.

SPRINGVILLE, Utah — Nature’s Way Products is recalling four lots of an herbal allergy-relief dietary supplement, saying Friday that excessive amounts of lead were found in the product.

The product, Nettle, is sold in 100-capsule white bottles that come with green lids. The tainted pills were distributed nationwide, mostly to health food retail outlets, from October to May.

Affected lot numbers, which can be identified by numbers printed on the bottom of each bottle, are 131237, 131238, 140738 and 215229.

People who ingest high levels of lead, especially children, can suffer serious damage to the central nervous system.

Nature’s Way said in a statement the product was found to have “excessive amounts of lead,” but company spokesman Gordon Walker couldn’t elaborate.

“It varies by lot,” he said.

Walker said the company wasn’t aware of any consumer health problems related to the discovery.

The problem was traced to a single batch of raw material used in manufacturing the four affected lots. Walker said the company was investigating with a supplier to determine how the lead reached the product.

Nature’s Way learned of the problem through the California Attorney General’s Office, which discovered it through a random testing program “within the last few weeks,” Walker said.

Baby Boomers aren’t getting any younger, and neither are their parents.

Its a fact of life that many Boomers must shoulder the responsibility to care for the homes of their elderly parents.

Yet according to the Lowe’s Home Safety Council, more than simple upkeep is involved. Because the elderly are more at risk for accidents, safety is a major consideration.

With the elderly being targets of much-publicized home-improvement scam artists, Lowe’s recommends you first build a list of home-improvement specialists you trust. This removes your parents from high-pressure negotiation tactics and puts you in control. It’s not a bad idea to schedule a regular walk through the home with your home-improvement expert to review what work needs to be done — and for how much money.

Next, pay close attention to the safety aspects of the home.

In particular, the Lowe’s Home Safety Council identifies certain items you should red-flag for immediate action:

n Are steps protected by hand railings and nonskid surfaces?

n Are area rugs backed by rubber or two-sided tape to reduce slippage?

n Do all interior light bulbs have enough wattage to illuminate portions of the home?

n Are exterior portions of the home adequately lighted? This applies both to security and general lighting.

n Install motion detectors to kick on exterior floodlights and lamps in some interior rooms.

n Install railings in baths and showers.

n Consider railings along hallway walls.

n Are cracks and gaps in paving and sidewalks filled and smoothed?

n Is there enough attic insulation and are all windows weatherproofed?

n Adding storm doors is a good idea to protect parents from drafts.

n Install both smoke- and carbon-dioxide detectors. Check the batteries regularly. Locate a fire extinguisher near the kitchen, and make sure your parents know how to use it properly.

n Ask trusted neighbors to keep an eye on the house. Give them your phone and e-mail addresses.

“When you help your parents take important safety measures in their home, you are not only ensuring the safety of your parents, but of everyone who comes into contact with the home, including visitors and grandchildren,” explains David Oliver, Lowe’s Home Safety Council Executive Director. “These steps lead to a more comfortable, convenient and secure living environment for the entire family.”

Functional rooms like kitchens and baths typically are fitted with wall-hung cupboards and storage areas.

Still, there’s plenty to be said for junking the wood-veneer boxes attached to your walls. The rewards of starting from scratch with a few attractive, functional dressers, tables and freestanding cabinets are worth it.

Space you didn’t know you had is the most notable benefit of this design concept. According to British interior designer Johnny Grey, who focuses mainly on kitchen design, “An illusion of spaciousness (is) achieved by leaving space around each piece of furniture, rather than fitting cupboards from wall to wall.” This now-exposed wall area can host well-placed shelves and hooks for extra storage and display. Your room will be tailored to your specific needs and tastes in a way rooms full of factory-made storage spaces can’t.

Home designers and those in the cabinet industry have gotten wise to this idea and have begun designing and manufacturing storage units that have the look of furniture and the ease of predesigned cabinets. The bath shown here features attractive vanity cupboards; dresser legs replace the flat-front toe space usually seen where the storage units meet the floors in baths and kitchens. Atop a matching set of drawers and cabinets is a tall, open-faced shelf secured to the wall, which reveals its contents — towels, photos and art — without shame.

Most people envision waterlilies daubed on large canvases when they think of the artist Monet’s flowers. Nasturtiums are another possibility, for Monet planted them in abundance. They spilled out of beds into paths, frothing like ocean water on a beach to soften his garden’s edges.

Nasturtiums are good flowers even for beginning gardeners. The large seeds germinate reliably, and do not need starting indoors for early bloom. Press a few seeds into the ground even now and you will be rewarded with nonstop bloom in a few weeks. The round, slightly bluish leaves are distinctive, making it easy to distinguish seedlings from weedlings. And once nasturtiums take off, they blanket the ground thickly enough to crowd out weeds.

Nasturtium flowers come in bright reds and oranges and yellows, toned down by masses of foliage so as never to be too glaring. Be careful not to give nasturtiums too rich a soil, or the foliage will overgrow and hide too many of the blossoms. Dwarf varieties, growing only a foot or so high, are good for small window boxes or in pots. There also are semi-trailing types, which sprawl outward a couple of feet or more. Nasturtium can cover a fence if you plant a climbing type, which typically grows about 7 feet tall and has single, fragrant flowers. Climbing nasturtiums grasp to support with their twining leaf stalks, just as clematis vines do.

Bright flowers and lush masses of pretty, round leaves are enough to ask for from any plant, but nasturtiums offer even more. You can eat them. Nasturtium flowers liven up salads with their color and peppery flavor. That peppery flavor, incidentally, gives the plant its name, which means “nose twister.” It will make your nose respond the way it does to mustard or radishes.

Nasturtium is one of those plants that could be called a “supermarket” plant, because it provides such a variety of foods. If you tire of eating the flowers, eat the leaves, in sandwiches, chopped directly into salads, or mixed into butter to make a spicy spread. Pickled, the large seeds or seed pods make savory substitutes for capers (which are pickled buds of an unrelated Mediterranean bush).

Functional rooms like kitchens and baths typically are fitted with wall-hung cupboards and storage areas.

Still, there’s plenty to be said for junking the wood-veneer boxes attached to your walls. The rewards of starting from scratch with a few attractive, functional dressers, tables and freestanding cabinets are worth it.

Space you didn’t know you had is the most notable benefit of this design concept. According to British interior designer Johnny Grey, who focuses mainly on kitchen design, “An illusion of spaciousness (is) achieved by leaving space around each piece of furniture, rather than fitting cupboards from wall to wall.” This now-exposed wall area can host well-placed shelves and hooks for extra storage and display. Your room will be tailored to your specific needs and tastes in a way rooms full of factory-made storage spaces can’t.

Home designers and those in the cabinet industry have gotten wise to this idea and have begun designing and manufacturing storage units that have the look of furniture and the ease of predesigned cabinets. The bath shown here features attractive vanity cupboards; dresser legs replace the flat-front toe space usually seen where the storage units meet the floors in baths and kitchens. Atop a matching set of drawers and cabinets is a tall, open-faced shelf secured to the wall, which reveals its contents — towels, photos and art — without shame.

Emmie Vida, an active leader in the Berkeley Jewish community died Monday of natural causes at the age of 93. Vida, who along with her husband Rabbi George Vida and their two children fled Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation of World War II, dedicated much of her life to helping and sharing history with others.

After moving to Berkeley more than 20 years ago, Vida assumed a number of leadership roles at Congregation Beth El. She became a facilitator of the congregation’s popular Torah Study and also a member of the Sisterhood of the Synagogue. In addition, Vida was an active member of the local Jewish Community Center and helped support Hadassa, an international social service organization.

Local community members describe Vida as a cheerful, welcoming and loving person. “She really was a saint to her community,” said Marian Magid, former president of Beth El. Vida always encouraged new members at the congregation and participated in a number of workshops and youth programs says Rabbi Ferenc Arj of Beth El.

“She would always encourage people to speak up by saying that there were no silly questions only silly answers,” Arj said.

With a love for history and learning, Vida became a short story writer and storyteller, chronicling the life of her family as survivors of the Holocaust. She was the subject of an interview for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Project, a series of videotaped testimonials from survivors of the Holocaust.

According to Arj, Vida was a very studious individual and continued learning throughout her life. Arj also says that Vida participated in congregation activities up until the very end of her life.

Vida is survived by her daughter, Ruth Meltsner of El Cerrito, her son, Henry Vida of Gum Spring, her brother Leo Koppel and sister Karola Loeb. She is also survived by five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions can be made to Hadassah or Congregation Beth El. Vida will be buried in Paramus, New Jersey with her husband, who died in 1989. A gathering to celebrate her life is scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m. at Congregation Beth El.

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the implementation of a law that would require the nation’s biggest bankers to include credit card payment “warnings” in monthly customer statements.

The ruling, handed down by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell, came three days before the law was set to go into effect.

A group of high-powered financial corporations, including Chase Manhattan Bank USA, CitiBank and MNBA America Bank, filed a lawsuit a month ago to stop the law, which would require the companies to warn customers about how long it takes to pay off credit card balances by just making the minimum monthly payment.

The ruling came as a shock to many consumer advocate groups, which said the credit card companies never raised any concerns before, even though they actively participated in designing the legislation.

“We’re disappointed,” said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, named as a co-defendant in the case with the state Department of Consumer Affairs.

FRONTERA — A parole board refused Friday to grant freedom to former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten after an emotional hearing focusing on the cruelty of the cult killings that landed her in prison 33 years ago.

The ruling came after a prosecutor and the family of victims Leno and Rosemary La Bianca urged the Board of Prison Terms never to grant parole to the now 52-year-old woman who was described as a model prisoner.

“This was a cruel and calculated murder and a matter that demonstrates a disregard for human suffering,” said Sharon Lawin, the board commissioner who chaired the hearing.

Earlier, Van Houten pleaded for her freedom, telling the board she will always bear the sorrow of the murders.

“One of the hardest things in dealing with having contributed to murder is that there’s no restitution, there’s no making it right,” she said.

Van Houten was in handcuffs and shackled around her waist. She wore a gray sweat shirt and sweat pants.

Defense attorney Christie Webb said Van Houten was disappointed, frustrated and saddened by the ruling.

“It’s very difficult to be a 52-year-old woman, a decent person and to be treated in that room like the 19-year-old cult victim she was,” Webb said. “It’s very difficult to hear someone say you should be dead.”

Earlier in the hearing, Louis Smaldino, the nephew of Leno La Bianca, told the board that Van Houten should stay in prison for the rest of her life.

“Miss Van Houten should already be dead for her part in these unprovoked murders,” he said. “Society has been very merciful.”

Turning to Van Houten, he said, “There is no way to make it right. Serve your life sentence with acceptance of what you have done.”

It was Van Houten’s 14th appearance before the parole board. She had been considered the most likely of the Manson followers to win parole after a judge ruled last month that the board had repeatedly failed to give her guidance on what she could do to make herself suitable for release.

Nevertheless, Van Houten was denied parole for at least two more years after the board determined she had not fully expressed remorse.

Lawin said the board was particularly swayed by the fact that the killings were part of a grand plan by Manson to start a race war.

The board did commend Van Houten’s behavior in prison — from working as a chapel clerk to making audio tapes to help other inmates.

“These positive aspects of her behavior, however, do not yet outweigh the factors of unsuitability,” Lawin said.

Lawin recommended Van Houten for continued therapy to better understand the enormity of her crime and its impact.

Van Houten was a 19-year-old disciple of Manson in the summer of 1969 when she participated in the stabbing deaths of the La Biancas in their home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

They were among nine Los Angeles-area victims slain by the cult of drugged-out followers. Prosecutors said Manson was trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesied in the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter.”

Van Houten was not present when followers of Manson killed actress Sharon Tate and four others at the actress’ Beverly Hills mansion. Manson was not at the home, either.

Van Houten, Manson, his chief lieutenant Charles “Tex” Watson, and two other women, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkle, were convicted and sentenced to death for their part in the Tate-La Bianca murders.

The sentences were later commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in the 1970s. All five are still behind bars.

During the hearing, Van Houten spoke quietly and directly as she recounted the horrifying facts of the murders that Manson directed.

She recalled that Watson was in the living room killing Leno La Bianca and she was in the bedroom with Rosemary La Bianca.

Asked if she had stabbed the woman, Van Houten said, “Yes I did in the lower torso approximately 14 to 16 times.”

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Bob N. Krug admonished the parole board for flatly turning Van Houten down every time based solely on the crime.

Such decisions, he said, ignore Van Houten’s accomplishments in prison and turn her life sentence into life without parole, in violation of the law.

In addition, Krug said that Van Houten had successfully completed every rehabilitation program offered in prison and that her psychiatric evaluations indicate that she is not a present danger to society and should be found suitable for parole.

LOS ANGELES — Electricity companies have issued a warning about the upcoming movie “Like Mike” because the plot involves a pair of sneakers a boy retrieves from a power line.

The family comedy stars rapper Lil’ Bow Wow as a teenager who gains magical basketball-playing abilities after lightning strikes him while he is unsnagging the shoes.

Instead of constricting his muscles, searing his flesh, burning his lungs and stopping his heart, the extreme electrical current gives the boy the ability to compete in the NBA.

“We’re worried that kids are going to see this and get electrocuted,” said Jason Alderman, spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. “The reality is if you touch a power line like that you’ll be seriously injured at best, and at worst die.”

Southern California Edison and Progress Energy Inc. have also issued warnings about the movie.

Alderman said PG&E has asked the film’s studio, 20th Century Fox, to either change the scene or add a disclaimer, but most of the thousands of prints for the July 3 debut are already completed and shipped.

“The scene is clearly not meant to be real or present behavior to be emulated by youngsters,” said Fox spokeswoman Flo Grace. “The film in no way advocates taking dangerous risks of any kind, including touching power lines.”

LOS ANGELES — The state plans to hack $61 million from anti-smoking efforts and the first parts to go will be regional centers set up to work with cities, schools and other groups — a move advocates say can only hurt the children of California.

Many of the anti-tobacco programs were doomed when California came up $23.6 billion short. Although the Legislature was still wrestling with the budget going into the weekend, workers at many of the 11 regional centers had already moved furniture out of their offices.

The regional centers — the oldest was 14-years-old — employed advisers who helped cities, counties, schools and community groups with questions, campaigns, studies and other anti-tobacco campaigns.

“This will drastically hurt our efforts to continue to reduce smoking,” said Paul Knepprath, vice president of government relations of the American Lung Association of California. “We have low smoking rates for kids, but it doesn’t stop tobacco companies from swooping in and getting youngsters addicted by fancy advertising.”

Ken August, spokesman for the Department of Health Services, said he doesn’t expect the cuts to cause an increase in the number of California smokers.

“I would agree that California success is based on three main parts, one of which is the great work done on the local level,” he said. “Although California is looking at budget belt-tightening, California has gone through fundamental change in smoking.”

After the cuts, California will still be spending more on anti-tobacco efforts than any other state, August said. The state has been a leader when it comes to smoke-free restaurants, stadiums and workplaces, he added.

There was $134.5 million set aside in the 2001-2002 budget for tobacco education and cessation, but only $88.3 million has been tentatively allotted for the coming fiscal year, August said.

That drop is compounded by a decrease in money from 1988’s Proposition 99, which imposed a 25-cent tax on every pack of cigarettes, because fewer cigarettes are being sold.

The state plans to continue programs that target young adults and smoking cessation such as the California Smokers’ Helpline, August said.

“We hope we don’t see an upswing in smoking,” said Patricia Etem, executive director of L.A. Link, one of the 11 regional centers. “Even the department knows that strong coalitions at the local levels are essential. If we weren’t here, there’s no impetus for the city to make sure the laws are enforced.”

One of the most successful programs run through the centers involved students and youth campaigns.

SACRAMENTO — A Republican senator is hoping the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that school vouchers are constitutional will jump-start a movement to get vouchers passed in California.

Following Thursday’s ruling, Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, introduced a bill that could pave the way for parents to start receiving publicly funded coupons that could be used to pay for private school tuition.

In its 5-4 ruling upholding a tuition-subsidy program in Cleveland, the Supreme Court said vouchers are constitutional if parents retain a wide choice of where to send their children.

Opponents had argued that since the overwhelming majority of private schools have religious affiliations, voucher programs result in state funding going to church schools.

Haynes said in a statement that the Supreme Court’s decision “finally ends the debate over whether offering our families true choice is somehow a violation of the Constitution.”

Haynes admitted that a bill introduced this late in the legislative session will have a difficult time making its way through both houses.

But time is not all that is working against Hayne’s voucher bill. California voters have twice rejected school vouchers, including a 2000 ballot measure that would have authorized $4,000 vouchers to allow as many as 6.6 million California children to attend private schools.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin said Thursday that she doesn’t think the ruling will affect California.

“California is not a voucher state,” she said. “When you start giving money to private schools, you have to hold them to much higher standards. Some private schools don’t even want to be in that game.”

But Haynes said he expects this bill, unlike his three previous attempts to get vouchers approved, will gain support from lawmakers.

SACRAMENTO — An Assembly committee killed a bill Friday that would have required food processors to disclose levels of artery-clogging trans fatty acids in processed foods.

The bill, by Sen. Debra Bowen, would have taken effect in January 2005 and would have been nullified if the federal Food and Drug Administration created nationwide labeling requirements.

The measure got only two votes in the Assembly Agriculture Committee, with five members voting against it and eight members abstaining.

The labels would have included the amount of trans fatty acids — also known as trans fat — which is the product of hydrogenation. That’s the process of adding hydrogen to liquid oils to solidify them in order to add shelf life and flavor stability to food.

Food processors opposed the labeling because it would create a California-only label and would be a distributing nightmare, said Jeff Boese, chief executive officer of the California League of Food Processors.

“I haven’t heard any opposition to the idea, the problem has been separate labels,” Boese said.

The FDA has been debating trans fat labeling for six years, but has yet to require food processors to disclose how much trans fat is in foods.

“It’s death by delay there,” Bowen said, referring to the FDA’s lack of action. “And in the meantime, there’s actual harm being suffered by Californians not getting the information they need about what’s in their food.”

Trans fat is found in small amounts in some meats, but more often is found in convenience and fast foods like doughnuts, french fries and chips, said Elisa Odabashian of Consumers Union, a supporter of the bill.

Two kinds of fat contribute to high cholesterol — saturated fats and trans fat. Saturated fats are already included on food labels, but it takes a savvy consumer and a calculator to figure out the level of trans fats, she said.

Trans fat is worse than saturated fat, Odabashian said, because while saturated fat increases cholesterol, trans fat increases bad cholesterol and at the same time it decreases good cholesterol.

Many lowfat food products boast that they’re low in saturated fat, but they often have high levels of trans fat, she said

“Californians shouldn’t hesitate to call the manufacturers of the products and ask them why they’re not disclosing this information voluntarily,” Bowen said.

The bill was supported by the American Heart Association, the California Dietetic Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

It was opposed by the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce, the California Grocers Association and the California League of Food Processors.

SAN DIEGO — A group of teenagers who attacked five Mexican farm workers were sentenced Friday to terms ranging from four months in a youth detention camp to time in adult prisons in a case that caused widespread outrage and became a test for a state juvenile justice initiative.

Judge James Milliken rejected defense lawyers’ requests to sentence the teens as juveniles, citing the severity of the July 5, 2000, attack on the men in a San Diego canyon.

“The fact that this behavior is possible is a sad commentary on the community,” Milliken said. “I, for one, feel we have to tell the community that we are not going to put up with it.”

Four teens sentenced Friday were part of a group of eight who, according to prosecutors, hunted down and severely beat the farm workers in a racially motivated attack. They used clubs, steel rods and BB guns to assault and rob the men at their encampment near the nursery where they worked.

The four pleaded no contest to charges that included assault with a deadly weapon with a special hate-crime allegation, robbery and elder abuse. The victims were in their 60s at the time.

Three other teens who pleaded no contest to similar charges and one who pleaded guilty are scheduled to be sentenced July 23.

The most lenient sentence handed down Friday, 120 days in a youth camp, went to Morgan Victor Manduley, 17, who the prosecutor called the “least culpable” in the attack.

Manduley was the lead plaintiff in a challenge to Proposition 21, the 2000 state law that allows prosecutors to try juveniles as adults for violent offenses without a judge’s approval.

In April, the state Supreme Court upheld the voter-approved initiative. Milliken said that even though he didn’t support the measure, he was obligated to abide by it during sentencing.

Jason Wayne Beever, 16, was ordered to serve 180 days in a youth camp. Both Beever and Manduley were given five years of probation and ordered to attend a class on racial sensitivity and perform 200 hours of community service.

Two other defendants who prosecutors said played more serious roles in the attack — Adam Mitchell Ketsdever, 18, and Bradly Hunter Davidofsky, 17 — were ordered to serve 90 days in an adult state prison. After that time, their cases will be reevaluated and Milliken could sentence them to as much as 15 years in prison. He could also send them to county jail or release them.

Michael Anthony Rose, 17, was scheduled to be sentenced Friday, but his case was postponed until July 23 to enable lawyers to determine whether he is eligible to be sent to the California Youth Authority because he was younger than 16 at the time of the crime.

During much of the proceeding, Manduley and Beever could be seen crying as they say in the jury box, accompanied by their lawyers. The three other defendants showed little emotion, other than to bow their heads occasionally.

Two of the victims, Anastacio Irigoyen, 71, and Alfredo Sanchez, 64, were in court and listened to the proceeding through an interpreter. Facing the two men, Manduley said: “I would really like to apologize to all the men involved in this incident.”

Ketsdever, whose actions prosecutor Hector Jimenez had called “sadistic,” also apologized, saying, “I am truly sorry for what I’ve done and I hope that some day I might make it up to you and your families.”

Jimenez called Davidofsky the “most responsible” for the attack. “I think Mr. Davidofsky deserves to go to prison,” he said.

The attack sparked strong reaction across San Diego. Latino organizations called for harsh punishment of the teenagers, who come from the relatively affluent neighborhood of Rancho Penasquitos. Manduley’s father is a Navy commander who is a Cuban immigrant.

In reaction to the sentences, Luis Natividad of the Latino/Latina Unity Coalition of San Diego said: “We’re satisfied that they didn’t get off. ... They should do some time.”

A civil lawsuit filed against the boys’ families ended in January with agreements to have about $1.4 million divided among the victims, who were legally employed at the nursery.

Irigoyen, who now lives in La Paz, Mexico, said he feels lingering effects from the attack. “They left me there for dead,” he said. “They should be punished as adults.”

In speaking to the court, Sanchez said he still has five BB pellets embedded in his body, including one below his right eye and two in his ear. “I want justice according to the law,” he said.

When police found Sanchez after the beating, he was in a fetal position in his hut and unable to come out. “The defendants admitted they shot the hell of him,” Jimenez said.

“It is completely upsetting that these young men could be so callous, that they could treat these men like animals,” he added.

SAN FRANCISCO — The glossy passenger train that slid into this city’s Caltrain depot to the fanfare of a brass band Friday can’t hustle as quickly as the bullet trains of Japan and Europe.

But its backers say the “baby bullet” trains will nearly halve the 90-minute commute between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and could persuade up to 30,000 drivers to ride the rails rather than sit on congested highways.

Politicians including Gov. Gray Davis and state Sen. Jackie Speier joined transportation planners to herald the new locomotives and cars, which won’t open to the public until late 2003. Upgrades to accommodate the new trains are the largest rail improvement project in Caltrain’s 139-year history.

“We’re trying to get you to work faster and get you home quicker,” Davis said.

Speier, a San Mateo Democrat who championed the project in the Legislature, said new transportation options are crucial as California’s population grows.

Caltrain has drawn as many as 10 million passengers annually. The 77-mile system runs through Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The express trains will cost $55 million; it will cost an additional $110 million for new and upgraded track, new signals, a new station and other improvements, according to Caltrain estimates.

The state’s Traffic Congestion Relief Program chipped in $127 million, said Jayme Maltbie, a spokeswoman for the rail system. Additional funding came from federal grants, passenger fares and money from government agencies along the route.

The express trains will be able to dodge some stations along the way and pass slower trains on new tracks. Though they can reach 95 mph, the speed limit along the corridor is 79 mph, and the new trains typically will go around 70 mph. Current trains must stop too frequently to go 70 mph for an extended stretch.

That speed pleased Alex Cano, a Caltrain instructor engineer who helped guide the train Friday on its voyage from San Jose.

“It’s the difference between night and day,” he told reporters from his perch in the train’s nose.

LOS ANGELES — A seventh-grade teacher who suffocated a rabbit triggered a Superior Court lawsuit by a group seeking to force the Los Angeles Unified School District to change its policy on animal experimentation.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund said it filed suit Thursday after failing to persuade the district to change its policy voluntarily.

“Our concern isn’t to go back and punish anyone,” said attorney Mitchell Wagner. “The ALDF is not one of these radical interest groups. It wants the school district’s policies to comply with the law.”

Godwin Collins Onunwah was a seventh-grade teacher at Gage Middle School in Huntington Park when he placed the rabbit in a plastic bag and tied the bag shut in front of his students in September 2000.

When the animal didn’t die of asphyxiation, authorities said, Onunwah placed the bag in a cabinet and left it there over the weekend. When he returned to school on Monday the rabbit was dead.

Jurors acquitted him of animal cruelty charges last year, ruling he didn’t act maliciously. The school district did not renew his teaching contract, however.

School officials declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday, saying they had not seen the complaint.

State law allows students to decline to participate in activities where an animal might be harmed.

Wagner said the district sends parents a blanket disclaimer at the start of each school year, but he said the law also requires individual teachers to give notice to parents at the time of the specific activity.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court recently reinstated a defamation suit by Suzuki Motor Corp. against the publisher of Consumer Reports.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling 2-1, said a jury should determine whether New York-based publisher Consumers Union of United States Inc. rigged its testing for a published report labeling the Suzuki Samurai “not acceptable.” The magazine first reported in 1988 that the Suzuki “rolls over too easily.”

Two years ago, a Santa Ana federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that Suzuki had not sufficiently supported its claim that the magazine acted maliciously to damage the reputation of the sport utility vehicle.

But the appeals court ruled that a jury should weigh for itself allegations the magazine rigged the driving test to reach a predetermined conclusion, and that it published its results with reckless disregard as to whether they were true, wrote Judge A. Wallace Tashima.

Tashima also said a federal jury should consider whether the magazine’s motives were profit driven, given that it reprinted its original 1988 story in fund-raising solicitations while it was in “substantial debt.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency declined a petition to declare the vehicle defective and said the magazine’s test procedures for the Suzuki “do not have a scientific basis,” Tashima wrote.

In dissent, Judge Warren J. Ferguson said there was not sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. Blocking a trial, Ferguson wrote, was “necessary to both avoid the inhibition of free speech by the media and to protect public safety and health.”

The magazine is considering asking the court to reconsider, or may request the U.S. Supreme Court review the ruling.

“The First Amendment guarantees the right to report our independent findings, even when our judgment differs from that of the government or the company in question,” said Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union.

Suzuki attorney George Ball said the court’s decision means the magazine “will now have to answer in court for the false charges it has spread and continues to spread regarding the Suzuki Samurai sport utility vehicle.”

Suzuki’s United States headquarters is in Brea. It no longer markets the Samurai vehicles in the United States.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Across the country, a barely detectable Southern flavor spices local TV weather forecasts, up to a third of which are delivered by former students of Mississippi State University.

Meteorologists are one part TV star, one part scientist, and Mississippi State takes pride in producing forecasters who can do both parts equally well.

“That is our claim to fame — producing people who do TV weather and who are hopefully a little more prepared than Willard Scott,” says director Mark Binkley, the program’s director who says NBC’s semiretired weatherman is more a personality than a meteorologist.

The American Meteorology Society, which gives out a seal of approval that’s often advertised on local news programs, says about 25 percent of forecasters it approves are MSU-educated. Keith Westerlage, director of on-camera meteorology at The Weather Channel, said up to a third of the nation’s forecasters have ties to Mississippi State — when you add in the people who study through its distance-learning program.

Behind the university’s formula are two professors — one for the science, one for everything else.

He may urge students to have more inflection in their voice, less movement in their eyebrows. And if asked, he might quietly advise weight loss to improve job chances.

Beyond that, Verno says: “I have to let students develop their style. It’s not my place to say, ‘You’re going to be the serious weathercaster and you’re going to be the more comical weathercaster.”’

Verno’s partner, Mike Brown, handles the science.

The two pride themselves on producing students who are technically sound.

TV weather has evolved over the years, from a straight-laced presentation in the 1950s and 1960s, to a personality-driven approach in the 1970s. Since the 1980s, stations have pushed for forecasters with a solid meteorological background.

The American Meteorology Society sets the national standards for broadcast meteorology. It judges both education and communication skills.

“We’re really not supposed to be experts in on-air talent,” says the AMS’ Kelly Garvey. “We pretty much like to judge the scientific ability of the person, but because it’s so important for the broadcaster to relay the message to the public, we have the tape grading.”

Garvey said the AMS awards about 80 seals each year. Mississippi State’s 25 percent take is not matched by any other school, she said.

The university’s influence is so wide because of its video and Internet distance-learning program, which takes three years of study at 15 hours a week. About 1,400 students have graduated since 1987.

It has helped some of the highest-profile forecasters in the country. About a quarter of The Weather Channel’s 30 on-air forecasters have a Mississippi State pedigree. The program is popular because it gives midcareer people a way to advance while continuing to work, Westerlage said.

Bob Stokes, seen on The Weather Channel Saturday through Tuesday mornings, said the program was “wonderful.”

“You had to study for this stuff. It’s not something you just walk in without cracking a book,” Stokes said. “Some of the more successful and outstanding broadcast meteorologists have gotten their education at MSU.”

Many weather schools teach more hard-core science than Mississippi State and are more likely to fill private and government jobs, as with the National Weather Service.

Fred Carr, director of the University of Oklahoma’s school of meteorology, says many schools offer a weather broadcasting emphasis, but not the intensive course Binkley and Mississippi State have.

“Mark, I’ll have to give him credit, he’s put Mississippi State on the map with that program,” Carr said.

Binkley says research shows TV audiences pick a news channel based on their weather coverage.

“When it’s a high of 92 and a 30 percent chance of showers, they’re all going to say the same thing,” he said. “The days that there is severe weather is when you find out who your best person is. And the only way to be good in severe weather is to know your meteorology.”

NEW YORK — The walls of Jonathan Safran Foer’s apartment are covered with everything from a framed piece of blank paper from Susan Sontag to random sketches made by his friends. There is even an enormous canvas of a huge hand that the author himself painted.

“Pretty much everything up there is an accident — things I’ve picked up along long the way,” he says.

So goes the story of Foer’s life: Things just sort of ... happen.

A native of Washington, D.C., he found himself at Princeton University, where he majored in philosophy, and took some writing classes “for fun.” He wound up winning the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior Creative Writing awards.

One summer, Foer hopped on a plane and headed out to the Ukraine for four days, in search of the woman who hid his grandmother from the Nazis during World War II.

He did little research before his trip and never found the woman. So, he made up a lot of things and wrote a novel, “Everything Is Illuminated.” The book just happened to make the 25-year-old Foer the hottest young writer in publishing.

Houghton Mifflin paid nearly $500,000 to acquire the manuscript and HarperCollins purchased the paperback for $925,000. Actor Leiv Schreiber is hoping to direct a film version of “Everything Is Illuminated,” which quickly made The New York Times’ best seller list in May.

“It becomes very frustrating when other people think that you are successful or happy,” he says. “It’s almost as if they don’t take me seriously. Because, if you really took me seriously you would know that the things that are important to me are a lot bigger than money or getting good reviews.”

“Everything Is Illuminated” is a three-pronged novel.

It begins with correspondence between Alex, a Ukrainian, and the main character, coincidentally named Jonathan Safran Foer. Alex is to be Foer’s guide as they search for his grandmother’s old shtetl.

Then there’s the story of Alex and Jonathan as they travel through the Ukraine with Alex’s nearly blind grandfather and Alex’s dog, Sammy Davis Junior Junior.

Foer then weaves in a historical narrative of life in the shtetl from 1791 until 1942.

He is a slight man with a mop of dark, curly hair and soft black eyes. He speaks quietly but eloquently, choosing his words carefully as if savoring delicate morsels of food.

“I can be very hard on myself,” he says. “I convince myself that I’m fooling people. Or, I convince myself that people like the book for the wrong reasons.”

Others are eager to praise him. Houghton Mifflin editor Eric Chinski says that the book had an “amazing blend of energy and wisdom.”

“It was that rare combination of being stylistically risky but the acrobatics served a purpose,” Chinski says.

NEW YORK — The masterpieces of the Museum of Modern Art are now in Queens.

“The space here has a certain ‘rawness’ that makes the art come off the walls in a potent way,” museum director Glenn Lowry said Wednesday, as he inaugurated MoMA’s temporary move to a former Swingline staple factory.

Pablo Picasso could not have imagined when he painted his groundbreaking “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” in 1907 that this icon of cubism would end up across the street from a Queens envelope warehouse and down the street from a Dominican diner.

The museum, which first opened its doors 72 years ago, was forced to move from its midtown Manhattan address on West 53rd Street for a $650 million expansion project. The site will be closed through 2005.

MoMAQNS — the name of the bright blue converted staple factory — officially opens to the public on Saturday.

In this industrial Queens neighborhood, the museum’s stark white walls and 21-foot black ceiling frame cavernous, odd-shaped galleries, with a white metal ramp leading to the gift shop.

It seems the perfect space for a green 1950s Jeep — part of an exhibit called “AUTObodies” that also includes a 1990 Formula 1 Ferrari.

“Tempo,” featuring contemporary art from around the world, examines time in everything from clocks to watches and metronomes. A DVD creation shows a couple locked in a long, slow kiss that seems to defy time.

But MoMA’s reputation rests on the truly timeless treasures of modern art, many of them now gracing a series of new galleries with a cracked concrete floor and the sign “To Be Looked At.”

Museum officials want to make sure their famous works really do get seen — even at a location that would not normally draw Manhattanites or tourists.

Last Sunday, one attention-grabber was a procession of reproductions of famous MoMA works from Manhattan across the Queensborough Bridge to MoMAQNS on 33rd Street in Queens. The art was enhanced with Peruvian music and brightly colored costumes.

The real works are now in place — part of MoMAs collection of more than 100,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings. MoMA also owns about 14,000 films, and 140,000 books and periodicals.

MoMAQNS remains as audacious — and provocative — as its Manhattan parent.

In a gallery close to the masterpieces, a man’s leg protrudes through a wall, in shoes and a pant leg. It seems all too real. This, too, is MoMA’s art, an untitled 1991 work by American Robert Gober, who made it with cotton, wood and steel — and real human hair on the wax “skin” just under the cuff.

“There are relationships that normally occur in museums, where collections are organized well,” said Lowry, the director. “Here, it’s a little looser — and it works. In here, some of that shocking power of art gets refreshed.”

This week city leaders narrowed the list of new taxes they will seek from Berkeley residents to four.

The proposed taxes will go toward a new animal shelter, pedestrian safety improvements, affordable housing and seismic retrofits at Old City Hall. They would cumulatively cost an average homeowner about $72 a year.

Berkeley residents, like people in several Bay Area cities, have historically shown strong support for local funding initiatives, as compared to those living in other areas of California. Hence, takes are proportionately higher in the region.

The average homeowner in Berkeley pays $1,080 in local taxes each year, not including property tax, according to a report issued earlier this month from the city manager’s office.

Berkeley’s latest tax proposals come amid the approaching July deadline for putting measures on the November ballot. The new taxes will require a two-thirds vote to be enacted.

“We’ve defeated most of the requested tax increases this year. We’ve had to. The economy is down, we simply can’t afford to do everything,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington.

Proposals to finance street light repairs, retrofit the city’s Veteran’s Hall and increase stormwater drain fees have been dropped from city plans. In addition, a proposed bond to fund a therapeutic warm water pool has been withdrawn in hope of finding funding elsewhere.

City Council approved the four tax initiatives in concept at their Tuesday night meeting, which means city staff members will begin writing the ballot measure wording, then re-submit the measures to council for final approval early next month.

Councilmember Worthington said he will make a motion to drop the old City Hall initiative when it returns to council because four tax measures are too many right now.

“I think in a down economy we should hold that one over,” he said. It’s also the most expensive, he added.

The city hall measure would cost the average homeowner in Berkeley about $35 a year for 30 years, while the pedestrian safety initiative would cost $25 a year for the 30 years and the animal shelter initiative would cost $12 a year for an undetermined amount of time, according to the city manager’s office.

The affordable housing initiative comes in the form of a transfer tax. People who sell their homes would be levied a 0.5 percent tax on the value of their homes, raised from the originally-proposed 0.25 percent. The revenue would go toward affordable housing projects in Berkeley as well as toward emergency shelters and residential seismic upgrades for people who can’t afford them.

Homeowners whose homes are assessed a value of $350,000 or less would be exempt from the new tax.

Already, Berkeley residents are taking positions on the proposed taxes.

Citizens group Gray Panther wants to make sure the affordable housing tax will go to help the people who need it most.

“If it goes for low income housing, not just affordable housing, we’ll support it,” said Gray Panther co-convener Margot Smith.

So far the most vocal advocacy, calling themselves “Gimme Shelter,” is emerging in support of the animal shelter initiative.

The group, which is already planning campaign posters, says the $7.2 million bond to fund a new animal shelter is long overdue. A lack of quarantine areas and overcrowding are their primary issues.

The current shelter at 2013 Second St. was built in the 1940s, not to house animals, but to euthenize them, animal shelter officials said.

“We’re always scrambling for kennel space,” said Marcie Burrell, an animal control officer. “We also have to lump new dogs in with the general population, and who knows what [diseases] they’re bringing in there.”

Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz says that early campaigning is sure to make a difference in the November elections.

“Anytime you have a citizen’s group behind a measure, it increases the chance of passage,” Kamlarz said.

I am outraged that Paul Schwartz says in response to a strike vote “It's one of those things unions do...It is in some sense a part of the process.” Clericals have not struck in 30 years. We are not doing this for the “process” of it but because we are fed up and disgruntled to have to been kept waiting to see if bargaining offers would improve and not continue to be treated unfairly with a number of unfair labor practices. Now it is only getting worse. We want the whole community to support giving clericals decent treatment and stop wasting good taxpayers’ money.

Zero percent pay raise and a 1.5 percent step merit ( for only about 50 percent of the unit) is much worse than last year and is indecent. Library assistants at Alameda County are paid 30 percent more than UC, Cal State pays them 18 percent more. We are being treated unfairly also at bargaining when they withhold information, intimidate workers. It is costing UC taxpayers and wasting a huge amount of the parents money who pay for their children to attend CAL. Turnover in the first year is 54 percent and the cost of recruitment and retention is more that the cost of our pay raises and our retroactive step merits (paid normally annually when you are evaluated as satisfactory or better).

To support giving clericals a decent break we have a pledge to support our strike and hopefully we will make this obstinate cycle of bad faith unfair bargaining “process” end. Again, misinformation is being spread by UC who actually only offered us 1 percent as a part of last year's contract. In this year’s contract we are only being offered 1 percent (not 2 percent). All employees (including all administrators) are getting a 3 percent additional bonus for retirement. Many clericals do not yet qualify for retirement and this is not is the offer at the negotiating table.

It is also a lie that UC must limit our wages based on a “lack of state funding.” Only 36 percent of our wages come from state funding. Unrestricted funding is not tied “in legal obligations” or it would not be unrestricted. It is possible to use the $2.3 billion in reserves for our pay raises. UC only needs about $63 million for 18,000 clericals across the state (3 percent of the reserves). These lies and neglect by UC is costing taxpayers and wasting a huge amount of the parents money who pay for their children to attend CAL.

It is an outrage to the community to call this a "process" and a “thing unions do.” We won't strike unless our backs are to the wall and they are certainly at the wall now. Please ask to sign the pledge to support our strike.

A visitor entering the Berkeley Art Center gallery during the new exhibit “Red Rivers Run Through Us” needs a little time to figure out what the show is all about. Mostly made up of mounted poems and essays from the Veterans Writing Group, this writing-as-art with visual elements added is like a room-size magazine.

The Veterans Writing Group is just that – a group begun by Berkeley-based novelist and UC lecturer Maxine Hong Kingston that brings together Vietnam veterans to share their writing. It has since expanded beyond Vietnam veterans to include soldiers and widows and activists and nurses from all wars, including “gang war veterans.” The show expands past writing to Veterans who express their wars through art. The show runs through Aug. 11.

The hodge-podge collection of poems, essays, newspaper journalism, photography, sculpture, video documentary, and painting is held together by a central need to explore memory, exorcize nightmares, and take an emotional barometer reading of the long-term aftereffects of war.

The show’s centerpiece is a wall-sized, portable mural painting, “Nightwatch” (1999) by six Vietnam veterans who are not associated with the Veteran’s Writing Group. It’s a giant therapeutic experiment designed to diminish the men’s recurring nightmares. Project leader Susan Reid announced at the opening reception last Sunday afternoon that the mural was unsuccessful in ridding their nightmares. The different panels are amateurishly painted with jungle images and psychedelic abstractions of fear and isolation. Although it might also be unsuccessful as a piece of art it does not diminish the force of its intention, as it attempts to communicate wartime horror and honor a soldier’s anxiety.

Reid said the artists, who were not present at the reception, were initially hesitant to begin painting. But once they started, the images poured out of them. She also said the veterans were reluctant to show the mural in Berkeley, once a hotbed of antiwar activism that gave them a hostile welcome upon their return from Vietnam. Betsie Miller-Hursz, co-director of the mural project, said, “it’s a point of reconciliation for this to be here.”

A sense of atonement and support-group forgiveness pervades the show, best described in a moment of the documentary “Regret To Inform” (screening on a video monitor behind a partition in the back of the gallery) by Berkeley filmmaker Barbara Sonnenborg. The first-person documentary about Sonnenborg’s trip back to Vietnam to the death site of her first husband describes the surprise she discovered in her own attitude about the war. When her husband was drafted she knew he was in danger of being killed, but she hadn’t considered the fact that as a soldier he would probably do some of the killing.

Fear of dying is only part of the horror of war that these veterans and their loved ones remind us. The ability to look squarely at the former enemy without hatred, and look inside oneself without fear, is fodder for much of the show. The name of the show comes from Lee Swenson’s poem “Red River’s Run Through Us,” which muses on the global connections of war-scarred people. Swenson, who grew up near the Red River in Minnesota, met with a former Communist adversary who grew up near the Red River in Vietnam. Ann Marks’ short essay “I Was Never Arrested” describes her surprise at her own feeling of sympathy for the North Vietnamese during a trip to Vietnam. There she saw a Chinese woman suffering from crippled feet, which per Chinese custom had been forcefully bound to remain small.

Aside from the mural that dominates the middle of the room, the visual art on the walls shows a range of subjects, and even playfulness. Thirty nine miniature, mixed-media pictures by Tom Currie are scattered like buckshot along a wall. They are abstracts and portraits and sketches of war, Jesus, and rough interpretations of compositions vaguely remembered from classic paintings. Overheard, during the opening reception, Currie said he used “every technique imaginable.”

The writing on the walls also runs a range of topics, some tangentially related to war, some not at all. “A World Without Latkes” is a short essay written for a food magazine in which author Robert Gollinger Jr. discovers a recipe for latkes through a stranger on an airplane who was also a fellow war survivor. Dennis Fritzinger’s “Charlie Don’t Surf” fashions the famous “Apocalypse Now” line into a story-poem about a supernatural surfing challenge, a la Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down To Georgia” (“He said, ‘I’m Uncle Ho, and I’ve come to see/ If you Yank surfers are as good as me.’”).

More serious poetry, in both tone and craft, comes in several pieces by Dorothy Langlois, who writes about being raised Catholic and wearing deep-pocket choir robes. She writes one poem about shuffling in a retirement home, and another about stirring up the courage to face the world as in “Keith’s Poem”:

“Reality is acid rain you can’t hold

When you inhabit a world

Of strangers who blindly glance

Through your weathered disguise.”

“Poets are always happy,” said Maxine Hong Kingston during her presentation at the opening reception. The author of Chinese-American classics “Woman Warrior” and “China Men” read excerpts from her very thin forthcoming book “To Be The Poet.” It is a coy, ironic, whimsical manifesto of a long-form novelist who wants to write something quickly and simply. The crowd of mostly writers, and the friends who suffer them, chuckled at Kingston’s reverie into artistic innocence.

Describing her brief foray into poetry, Kingston suggested that when words are difficult to find, try painting (as the members of the Veterans Writing Group did). To find a rhythm for your language, she said, try tap dancing: Her class of tap dancers was invited to stand for recognition.

Finally, her poetic excursion led her to the Zen practice“ensos,” and to a possible explanation of her writing class’ motivation. Ensos is a point of sublime meditation in which a subject paints a black circle on white rice paper. If older than 60, the 61-year-old Kingston explained with glee, “everything you put down is right.” That truism can be applied to the exhibit: If you have lived enough, and you are honest enough, everything you do is right.

While the sanctions handed down Wednesday by the NCAA concerning Cal football bring up a whole new set of questions for next season’s team, the transgressions brought to light certainly put an exclamation point on the disaster that was Tom Holmoe’s reign over the program.

Not only did Holmoe manage to take the Bears from a bowl team to a squad that was lucky to get a last-gasp victory over hapless Rutgers to avoid a winless season in 2001. Not only did he leave the talent cupboard as bare as it gets in the Pac-10. Holmoe also had such a lack of control and respect from his players that cheating was apparently rampant under his watch.

The grading scandal that resulted in two players leaving school and a professor resigning his post was bad enough, a black mark on both the program and the university. But two bad apples and some tremendously poor judgement by a faculty member weren’t necessarily Holmoe’s fault. After all, a head coach can’t be watching his players every minute, and there’s no indication of any pressure brought to bear by the coaching staff to change grades.

But the new charges of 34 instances of extra benefits for players while staying in hotels before games are, while less scandalous, more indicative of the lack of respect Holmoe’s players had for him. That number of players doing things against the rules was likely common knowledge to the majority of the team. The fact that no one alerted Holmoe to the infractions is more than players covering for their friends; it amounts to the players thumbing their noses at the coaching staff.

Holmoe was and is, by most accounts, a nice and well-meaning fellow. But a part of any coach’s influence over players is fear: fear of losing playing time, fear of losing a scholarship, or simply the fear of getting yelled at. That fear didn’t exist with Holmoe as head coach. Being nice and being successful quite often don’t go hand-in-hand, especially in the sports world. Bear Bryant didn’t go around asking about his players’ feelings, and chances are Vince Lombardi didn’t attend poetry readings.

So now who will pay for the failures of Holmoe’s administration? The current players and coaches, that’s who. Jeff Tedford, through no fault of his own, has been handicapped as he tries to bring the Cal program back from the depths of a 1-10 season. He’ll have fewer scholarships to award in the coming years, and the probation can only hurt recruiting. Even worse, the possibility of a bowl game for this season’s seniors, none of whom has been to the postseason, has been taken away.

How will Kyle Boller and his classmates react? They’ll be playing for pride and a shot at the NFL, maybe even to avenge the embarrassment of last season. Besides, hoping for the Bears to earn a bowl bid in 2002 would have been like voting for Ralph Nader for president: you feel good for staying loyal, but you don’t actually want to see the resulting carnage.

There is a small bit of justice in the NCAA penalties. The Bears were forced to forfeit their 1999 win over Arizona State, since the two players involved in the grade scandal, wide receivers Ronnie Davenport and Michael Ainsworth, both played in the game. That drops Holmoe’s record at Cal to 15-40, fourth worst in the school’s history.

All the blame can’t be placed on Holmoe. The players involved in the infractions clearly should have known better. Then-athletic director John Kasser reportedly brushed aside the fake academic credits as “an academic issue, not an athletic issue,” and stuck with Holmoe even after it was clear the BYU graduate and NFL All-Pro was in over his head. Don’t think it’s a coincidence that Kasser resigned last year, just before it really started to hit the fan.

Quick hits: Yao Ming was the top pick in the NBA draft? A skinny, freakishly tall player who almost no one has seen play. Hmmm. Does the name Shawn Bradley ring a bell? No player over 7-foot-2 has ever had much of an impact on the NBA. And no, Warriors fans, Manute Bol doesn’t count... The Warriors made the safest choice with Mike Dunleavy with the third pick, although Caron Butler and Dajuan Wagner could turn out to be better players in a few seasons. Now the Warriors should resist the temptation to make headlines by hiring Dunleavy’s dad to be the coach. Who wants their father looking over their shoulder all the time at their first job?... Jamal Sampson left school after a year and was picked in the second round, ending up in Milwaukee without a guaranteed contract. Anyone think he made the right choice?... Some colleges have backed off of Oakland Tech High basketball star Leon Powe after he tore his ACL late in the spring, but Cal’s Ben Braun is still hot on the trail of the national top-five player. Powe’s recovery from the injury has been quicker than expected... Cal is also in the hunt for Oakland High’s Ayinde Ubaka, the top point guard on the West Coast, along with Arizona... Tedford reportedly offered Berkeley High wideout Sean Young a scholarship for 2003 earlier this month... St. Mary’s High basketball assistant Mark Olivier was headed for the head job at Hercules High, but Olivier may now be aiming to replace Jose Caraballo as the Panthers’ head man after Caraballo’s surprise resignation last week... Berkeley High forward K.K. Alexander had considered transferring back to Kennedy High, where he spent his freshman year, but has decided to stay with the Yellowjackets for his senior season.

Wednesday’s court ruling banning the Pledge of Allegiance in schools is stirring the nation’s political pot, drawing strong opposition from across the nation – from President George W. Bush in Washington D.C. to Gov. Gray Davis in California’s capital.

East Bay residents have a lot to say about it, too.

The local debate follows the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that the phrase “one nation under God,” is a government endorsement of religion and unconstitutional.

On Thursday, a federal appeals court judge blocked the court’s ruling from being enforced. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the U.S. Justice Department plans to seek a rehearing. Amanda Savage of Pleasant Hill says the court’s decision in the first place was unnecessary.

“I don’t see the pledge as a religious thing,” Savage said on Thursday at Berkeley’s Civic Center Park. She said that Michael Newdow, the Sacramento atheist and father of a second-grader who brought the case to court, is “making a big deal” when he doesn’t need to.

“I don’t think children think about that,” she said. Savage remembered saying the pledge growing up and said it didn’t bother her, nor did it force religion upon her.

Some locals are not as quick to dismiss the case, however.

“Now that it’s brought up, I could see modifying it,” said Janet Christensen of Oakland. “We’re becoming more and more a melting pot, and for some people, [‘Under God’] is limiting.”

Many, like Christensen, expressed concern that the court’s decision will bring everything from presidential oaths to U.S currency under the same unconstitutional category as the pledge.

“If we’re going to split hairs about ‘under God,’ we need to consider the phrase about ‘Liberty and justice for all,” Christensen said. “We all don’t have the same God, and we all don’t have the same justice.”

Christensen added that Berkeley, more than other cities, might be a place that would attract support for the decision.

Echoing Christensen’s sentiment, Berry Lee, a parent at Wilard Middle School in Berkeley, added, “This country is a melting pot, and it’s not right for Christians to force religion on other people.”

Wednesday’s ruling, if passed, would remove the pledge from schools in nine states covered by the court. These states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

In a letter sent yesterday to county and district schools, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin wrote: “I personally believe the Pledge of Allegiance is an appropriate patriotic exercise for California’s school children.”

The letter identified the current stance of California’s public schools as saying “Until a decision is final, the Department of Education will not direct California’s public schools to change their practices regarding the pledge.”

Eastin added, “Frankly, if the 9th Circuit ruling were to be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, I would be surprised.”

Marianne Magid, spokesperson for the Berkeley Unified School District, outlined the specifics of the Education Code of California.

Magid explained that the code calls for “appropriate patriotic exercises.” The Pledge of Allegiance is one way to satisfy the code, but not the only way.

With this case straddling politics and religion, the opinions of clergy are at the forefront of debate.

“As a clergy person, I am against the removal of the phrase,” said Father Tim Godfrey of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Berkeley.

Godfrey said he respects the opinion of the defendant but would ask him not to exclude the possibility of a God. Removing the controversial phrase would do that, Godfrey said.

Pastor Ron Parker of Epworth United Methodist Church in north Berkeley has taken a different stance.

“It’s a huge presumption to include that in the pledge,” he said. The Methodist Church, unlike the Catholic Church, supports the separation of church and state, Parker noted.

Parker remembers that he was in middle school in Michigan in 1954 when the phrase “under God” was added to the pledge, and said that “even then, I knew people for whom it wouldn’t be true.”

As a pastor in the diverse city of Berkeley, Parker still holds the same belief.

“[In] places like Berkeley, there is more support for a pluralism of viewpoints, and more care and recognition for people whom this wouldn’t be something they would want to say.”

While some say the Pledge of Allegiance is something children blindly recite every morning without paying much attention to it, Parker says otherwise.

“I think that kids in Berkeley are aware of what they are saying,” he said.

Berkeley has imposed a new Rental Housing Safety Inspection Program. It is heavy in paperwork and intrudes on tenant's privacy. It requires an annual inspection of every apartment in Berkeley for safety violations and requires that each gas heater have a mechanical contractor or PG&E service technician inspect each gas heater to make sure they are working properly every three years. What I am amazed at is that all city funded, non-profit housing and Section 8 housing is exempt! Why is it not important to inspect subsidized housing? Don't we want it to be safe too?

The program's department says that city assisted housing is periodically inspected already, therefore it is exempt. Section-8 apartments are inspected only before tenants move in and not afterwards, even if they are there for ten years. If it is such a good program and safety is the goal for all of Berkeley's apartment dwellers then the city should not exempt non-profit housing, Section 8 housing or city assisted housing.

ZURICH Switzerland — The novel, purportedly written by a man named Emil Sinclair, immediately won a literary award when it was published in 1919. But the winner of the prize, reserved for first works, returned it since he was no newcomer to the literary scene.

Only in the mid-1920s did the author of the self-exploring “Demian” reveal his true identity: Hermann Hesse. Half a century later, Hesse’s books became cult favorites for millions worldwide, above all young readers.

Now, on the 125th anniversary of his birth, the life and work of Hesse, one of the most widely read German-speaking novelists and poets, are themes for numerous shows, conferences and other events throughout the world.

Competing for special attention are Calw, the picturesque German Black Forest town where he was born July 2, 1877, and Zurich, in his adopted homeland, Switzerland, where all of his Nobel Prize-winning prose was written.

The Zurich exhibition at the Swiss National Museum claims to be the largest presentation. Its title, “Hellish Journey Through Myself,” is excerpted from a resume Hesse wrote in 1924. It points to decades of struggle to overcome personal crises.

On view are first editions of his books as well as paintings, texts, letters and memorabilia. The focus is on “Siddhartha” and “Steppenwolf,” two key novels by the prolific writer, whose works have been translated into almost 60 languages.

Two revolvers stuck to the wall of one room recall Hesse’s flirtation with suicide, which began when he was a teen-ager. He bought his first handgun at age 15 in a mental clinic where his austerely Pietist parents had put their rebellious son after he escaped from a Protestant seminary. Next to the arms is a letter in which he accuses his father of having robbed him of “the zest of life.” In the letter, he addresses his father as Herr Hesse — Mr. Hesse.

By then, he had already long decided that he wanted to “become a poet or nothing at all,” as he would remember in his resume.

His first novel, “Peter Camenzind,” a back-to-nature call in response to growing industrialization published when he was 27, was already a success — as was the subsequent “Demian.” But through most of his career, he was intermittently haunted by fits of doubt and desperation. Two unhappy marriages contributed to his problems.

Exhibits describe how he sought relief by psychotherapy in about 70 analytical sessions, mostly with a disciple of C.G. Jung, the early Swiss adherent of Sigmund Freud. The theories of Freud and Jung strongly affected Hesse’s works, generally judged to be autobiographical.

“He makes his way through this hellish tunnel, ... writes about his crisis and thus copes with it at the same time,” biographer Eva Zimmermann writes in a 250-page textbook accompanying the show. Referring to a dreams diary his therapist once made him write, she points to Hesse’s hidden hopes for fame, his sexual inhibitions, his extreme thriftiness and other insights into his psyche.

For almost a year, one of his worst crises blocked completion of “Siddhartha,” based on the early life of Buddha and reflecting Hesse’s studies of Indian and Chinese philosophy. It was only with “Steppenwolf,” his novel about a romantic antiestablishment loner, that Hesse found relative peace, according to Zimmermann.

The publication of “Steppenwolf,” on his 50th birthday, can be considered as a symbolic end of the hellish journey, Zimmermann writes. Hesse has reached the highest degree of self-awareness and self-discovery possible to him.

SAN FRANCISCO – A rugby match lasts 80 minutes. No timeouts, few player substitutions, not a lot of time for coaching. It’s a rough contact sport that forces players to think and act under extreme pressure.

Former Cal rugby player Mark Bingham may have demonstrated those hard-learned skills during his final moments on Sept. 11 aboard United Flight 93, the only one of the four hijacked planes that didn’t reach its target.

This weekend, his San Francisco Fog teammates will honor that spirit by holding the Bingham Cup, an international gay rugby tournament, during the city’s annual pride celebration.

“There’s something to be said for competitive sports,” said Alice Hoglan, Bingham’s mother. “His last game wasn’t on a grassy field. It was on a narrow 757.”

Hoglan will present the trophy on Saturday to the winner that emerges from the eight rugby clubs. She also plans to march with some of the 200 players in Sunday’s Pride Parade, which draws about 1 million people each year.

“It’s going to be everything Mark would love,” Fog forward Bryce Eberhart said. “It’s going to be a rockin’ party, people from different cultures getting to know each other and it’s going to be two days of rugby, rugby, rugby.”

While the two teams from England will be tough to beat, Eberhart said the Fog (2-8 this year) will play with the same fierce determination Bingham brought to the scrum. Just before he died, Bingham’s team was accepted into a straight rugby league, prompting him to give his teammates a congratulatory pep talk.

“We have the chance to be role models for other gay folks who wanted to play sports, but never felt good enough or strong enough,” he wrote. “This is a great opportunity to change a lot of people’s minds.”

“Mark came in like a steam engine, just knocking the heck out of all of these guys and he brought an intensity to that practice that left a lot of guys saying, ’We don’t like this guy very much,”’ Eberhart said.

“Then, afterward at the pub he made his way to each person and pointed out something they’d done right that day and maybe even gave them a little tip. And by the end of that social, he was everybody’s best friend.”

Bingham helped Cal’s rugby club win national titles in 1991 and 1993. At 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, he played the position of eight man, which requires leadership and poise to get the ball out of the scrum and into the runners’ hands.

Cal rugby coach Jack Clark remembers Bingham fondly as a player who wasn’t a star but was always a dependable, fierce competitor.

“Mark was one of the lads. He was right in the middle,” Clark said. “I don’t have much doubt that Mark would have been pleased to have his legacy in rugby remembered.”

Clark also said he has no doubt Bingham was one of the passengers who took on the terrorists, forcing the plane down in a rural Pennsylvania field instead of into its unknown intended target. He credits rugby with helping to shape Bingham into a take-charge, fearless leader who didn’t hesitate under pressure.

“I have no doubt he would have been brave enough to do whatever was needed,” Clark said. “In rugby, you have to deal with pressure of that moment. You can’t get off the mountain.”

The electoral field for District 8 may soon get even deeper as Berkeley Housing Commissioner Jay Vega explores the idea of running.

Vega, an openly gay Latina, says she wants to focus on issues such as housing, traffic and crime.

“My focus will be on our housing needs and concerns, public safety, streets, storm drains and potholes as well as traffic issues and earthquake/fire preparedness,” Vega said. “The people of this district deserve to have strong representation on the council, and I’m determined they have it.”

If Vega wins she would be the first lesbian or Latina to ever be elected to Berkeley City Council.

She says she does not want her gender, sexual preference or ethnicity to play a part in the race but believes all of the above issues are likely to come up.

“I’m an accumulation, like any human being, of my life experiences,” Vega said. “Hopefully people are going to focus on the issues. But it’s been my experience that they don’t. It’s been my experience that they are going to want to ask me about things that aren’t vital to the city of Berkeley — like my ethnic background, my gender, my sexuality — these things, they come up,” she added.

Appointed onto the Berkeley Housing Commission by Councilmember Polly Armstrong, Vega will enter into the race with Planning Commissioner Gordon Wozniak, UC Berkeley student Andy Katz and Chair of the Peace and Justice Commission Anne Wagley.

All of the candidates so far are avoiding wearing labels of progressive or moderate, but Wozniak is believed to have the strongest support from moderate voters in a district that has never had a progressive represent them.

He is also believed by many to be an early front-runner in the race, with more than 150 endorsements, including that of outgoing District 8 Councilmember Armstrong.

In fact, Wozniak said he is running at the request of Armstrong.

“I wouldn’t run without her encouragement,” Wozniak said. “I hadn’t ever thought of that myself — running for political office.”

Wozniak, a recently retried research scientist from UC Berkeley, refers to himself as a professional problem-solver and says those are the skills he will bring to council.

“My feeling was that I could help the city,” Wozniak said. “The city has a lot of complex problems, and I like to the think that I have the ability to come up with solutions to complex problems. To help find creative solutions to solve problems and make our money go a little further than we thought it would.”

Though Wozniak is being called the most conservative candidate to yet enter the race, he says his goal on council would be to bridge the gap between moderates and progressives, and that he considers himself somewhere in the middle of the two.

“I think those labels (moderates and progressives) are a little out of date,” Wozniak said. “The majority of my support will be coming from moderate voters but I wouldn’t want to pigeon hole myself as a moderate candidate.”

Vega too wanted to avoid the political labeling.

“I’m entering the race as a Democrat, and I’ve been a liberal Democrat all my life,” Vega said. “Berkeley sometimes needs to look a little bit beyond what happens here within the confines of Berkeley and not worry so much about whether we are moderates or progressive.

“I’m not going to define myself as a moderate or progressive, I’m not going to put myself in that box. I’m running as an independent and as a liberal.”

But Rent Stabilization Board member Paul Hogarth, who is leaning toward supporting Katz, says the labels are important historically.

“District 8 was created to be a moderate homeowner district,” Hogarth said. “And the only time a progressive ever got close to winning it was in ’96.”

Hogarth, a progressive, said in his opinion Katz is more electable in the race than Wagley and that he knows very little about Vega.

“In order for a progressive to win in that district you need the students,” Hogarth said. “Students are 40 percent of District 8. People who live south of Derby (largely homeowners) vote in much higher numbers then people who vote north of Derby (largely student housing).

“But what’s important to remember is that students and renters make up majority of the district, the difference is voter turnout,” he added.

Oh, the noise when the wheels of justice encounter the will of the people.

On Monday, June 24th, at the Sacramento Federal Courthouse, the first Federal case involving a medical marijuana cooperative was due to begin.

Forty-two prospective jurors were dismissed due to jury contamination. Allegedly, one of the reasons for contamination was a piece of literature handed to all passersby, regarding our rights as jurors to vote our conscience.

In a trial by jury, the judge's job is to referee the event and provide neutral legal advice to the jury, beginning with a full explanation of a juror's rights and responsibilities. But judges only rarely ‘fully inform’ jurors of their rights, especially their right to judge the law itself and vote on the verdict according to conscience. In fact, they regularly assist the prosecution by dismissing any prospective juror who will admit knowing about this right.

Trial by jury is part of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Juries can nullify or veto a law, or bring in a general verdict. However, a 1895 Supreme Court decision held that jurors need not be told their rights.

Our government is ‘of, by and for the people.’ America's Founders realized that trials by juries of ordinary citizens, fully informed of their powers as jurors, would confine the government to its proper role as the servant, not the master, of the people.

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, put it like this: “I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.”

John Adams, our second president, said about jurors: “It is not only his right, but his duty… to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.”

For more information, you can contact the Fully Informed Jury Association, at www.FIJA.org. Inform yourself, learn everyday, and be the best citizen you can be.

LOS ANGELES — Screenwriters for television shows and films whose works “enrich as well as entertain” were honored during a luncheon with the 2002 Humanitas Prize.

In the feature film category, writers Richard Eyre and Charles Wood won a $25,000 prize on Tuesday for “Iris,” which recounts the life of writer Iris Murdoch and her husband’s devotion to her after she was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

In the cable television category, writers for the HBO film “The Laramie Project” won $25,000 for their film documentary about Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who died in 1998 after he was beaten into a coma and tied to a fence. Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project wrote the screenplay.

Kirk Ellis also won a $25,000 award for “Anne Frank,” a four-hour ABC miniseries that portrayed the girl from ages 9 to 15 and went beyond “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which ends with her arrest in 1944.

Two shows tied for the $15,000 prize in the 60-minute category: an episode of ABC’s “The Practice” titled “Honor Code,” written by Lukas Reiter and David E. Kelley; and the season finale last year of NBC’s “The West Wing,” titled “Two Cathedrals,” by Aaron Sorkin.

In the 30-minute category, Matt Tarses won the $10,000 prize for an episode of NBC’s “Scrubs” titled “My Old Lady.”

Anna Sandor was given a $10,000 prize for “My Louisiana Sky” in the children’s live action category and Dev Ross won a $10,000 prize for “Wolf Quest” in the children’s animation category.

In the Sundance Feature Film category, George LaVoo and Josefina Lopez won a $25,000 award for “Real Women Have Curves.”

The group also honored journalist Bill Moyers with a new prize, the Kieser Award, in recognition of his 30-year career. The award is in memory of the late Rev. Ellwood “Bud” Kieser, the Emmy-winning Roman Catholic priest who created the Humanitas Prize in 1974.

Frank Desiderio, president of the Humanitas Prize, also announced the establishment of the David and Lynn Angell Humanitas Fellowship in Comedy Writing. David Angell, co-creator of the NBC sitcom “Frasier,” and his wife were aboard one of the planes crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The fellowship, which is funded in part by a gift from Paramount Television, will be presented annually to someone who has finished a graduate-level writing program.

After debating through the morning and into the afternoon Thursday, BART officials increased fares for all BART trips by 5 percent starting Jan. 1. Despite objection, the East Bay’s bus agency A.C. Transit is likely to follow with an 11 percent increase on its adult fares.

And, across the bay, the price of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in a car jumped 67 percent – from $3 to $5.

The rise in BART fares is part of a series of measures that BART directors implemented to make up for a $28 million budget deficit. A.C. Transit is raising its fares because it is faced with a financial deficit next year caused by a decline in sales tax revenues.

It will require a transfer of $8.5 million from equity to maintain service at the existing level.

The A.C. Transit Board heard objections from A.C. transit riders Thursday at hearings at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. The board was scheduled to vote on the proposal either Thursday night or today.

The proposal calls for adult fares to be raised from $1.35 to $1.50, and a ten cent increase for senior and youth fares.

Transbay commuters are likely to see an increase from $2.50 to $3.00. The board can choose to approve the entire proposal or approve parts of it with modification.

During Thursday’s hearings, most who testified agreed that prices are too high already.

Hoang Banh was against the elimination of transfers.

“Eliminating the transfer will make it prohibitively expensive to transfer,” said Banh who lives in the Diamond district in Oakland, and used A.C. transit while attending U.C. Berkeley.

Other BART measures include the launching of a new parking policy that will set aside one-quarter of all spaces at BART parking lots for reserved use on weekdays. Under the program, those who wish to reserve parking will pay $63 a month to have a space reserved until 10 a.m. They chose instead to institute a program that will make one-fourth of all BART station parking spaces into reserved spaces, where those who want guaranteed weekday parking until 10 a.m. will be able to obtain it by paying $3 a day.

Also discussed on Thursday, across the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District’s finance committee recommended a toll hike to $5 to cross the Golden Gate. The 19-member board will vote today. The board will consider charging pedestrians and cyclists $1 to cross the bridge later in the year. Now, it’s free.

The Associated Press and Daily Planet news services contributed to this story.

Fifty seven years after the original United Nations charter was printed at Berkeley's UC press and sped across the Bay Bridge to the official UN signing ceremony in San Francisco, local residents remain committed to the peace keeping efforts of the international organization.

For members of the East Bay chapter of the United Nations Association, one of 175 nationwide advocacy groups for the UN, Wednesday's local Charter Day anniversary signified a time to both rejoice and recommit to an important cause.

“With things like terrorism, it's increasingly important to be aware of international issues,” said Bill Trampleasure, president of the East Bay chapter of the UNA.

With the mission to educate, advocate and celebrate the work of the UN, the East Bay chapter of the United Nations Association attracts members interested in matters that have an impact both locally and abroad. Members hold conferences and provide input to UN leaders on issues ranging from human rights, to the global impact of private businesses to terrorism.

While most citizens have at best a hazy idea of what the UN actually does, UNA members say the time is now to inform the public. Members contend that global issues will continue to have a strong impact on the lives of citizens across the United States.

“We have a saying at our chapter, ‘The American public needs to go from uninformed to UN informed,’ ” Trampleasure said.

Members of the UNA say more needs to be done to include information about the UN in school curriculum. “Educational materials don't deal with the UN right now. We're not saying that they have to promote the UN as something that is going to save the world but the curriculum should provide basic information on how the UN works,” said Steven Dimoff, Vice President of the Washington DC UNA.

Dimoff, who along with other chapter leaders from around the nation met Wednesday night at the local Charter Day Banquet in San Francisco, says informing today's youth about the UN is critical.

Of the current UN staff, approximately 40 percent will retire in the next five years. These retirements will leave many vacancies, according to Dimoff, who also spoke to a group of students at a Peace and Conflicts class at UC Berkeley on Wednesday.

Support for the United Nations in Berkeley is not limited to the local UNA chapter. The city has flown a UN flag near City Hall, in Civic Center park for at least 19 years, said city worker Vernon Scott.

Though many local residents were not aware of Wednesday's anniversary, at least one Berkeleyan thought the connection between the UN and the city was appropriate.

“It seems like something people would associate with Berkeley. Overall I think the UN is a pretty positive thing,” said Houston Gilbert who said he believes international issues are important. “I just finished working with a bunch of EU representatives from a few German scientific organizations. We've been working on the global picture of biotech,” he said.

Local chapters of the UNA organize forums nationwide in connection with over 5,000 non-governmental agencies, paralleling conferences held by the UN itself.

According to Trampleasure, the UNA and its chapters have attended an increasing number of conferences recently on topics dealing with atomic weapons, women's rights, AIDS and world health.

Though UNA members do not generally speak at official UN meetings, the forums they hold do make a difference. “Our physical presence at marches and rallies, sometimes that's the most important thing,” Trampleasure said. “We all try to make the UN visible to people in the community.”

The East Bay Chapter recently recognized boona cheema, the director of the Berkeley nonprofit Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, with a leadership award for her work with the homeless community.

The chapter is currently planning events for next week's “National Advocacy Week.” Members are encouraging citizens to meet with their local elected representatives during the week of congressional recess to continue support for a number of key international issues.

In addition, a 38th anniversary celebration of the East Bay's chapter is scheduled for Aug. 1. The 4th annual UNA Run For Peace is in September.

According to Mary Lee Trampleasure, Center Director of the local UNA, there has been an increase in interest and membership at the chapter during the last few months. There are currently 330 members at the East Bay chapter.

After Sept. 11 many local residents bought UN flags from the East Bay chapter instead of purchasing US flags. “They were coming to buy the UN flags until we ran out and the manufacturer ran out too,” she said.

Harris said a witness flagged down a patrol officer on Haste Street at about 5:20 p.m. Wednesday to report a fight and point out a fleeing Mitchell. The officer broadcast the information over the police radio and the suspect was soon apprehended.

Police found Marshall-Darrow lying on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. He was taken to the hospital, but died from stab wounds shortly thereafter.

OAKLAND — Roadside emergency phones will become fewer and farther between along Bay Area highways under a plan approved Wednesday by the region’s transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which maintains the phones, voted to remove about 1,350 emergency call boxes from roadsides at the advice of the agency’s freeway and expressway service panel. The first phones could be disconnected as soon as July, leaving behind 2,150 and saving the agency about $4.7 million over five years.

Fewer motorists are using the phones, since more drivers are using cell phones to reach a tow truck or 911, the panel told the commission last month. In 1996, more than 200,000 people called from the solar-powered phone boxes. Last year, half as many did, according to the agency.

The transportation commission will survey the 1,100 miles of roadway where phones are placed to determine just which boxes should remain to allow drivers the most convenient access possible.

An annual $1 surcharge on car registration fees funds the phones, as well as roving tow trucks that tug stranded drivers out of traffic to relieve congestion.

LOS ANGELES — Errors by the pilots and air traffic controllers caused a Southwest Airlines jet to skid off a runway and onto a street during a botched landing at Burbank Airport two years ago, federal officials said.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that the twin-engine Boeing 737 arriving from Las Vegas was going too fast and descended at a steep angle when it landed on March 5, 2000.

The plane overshot the runway, crashed through a concrete barrier and came to a stop on a busy street. Two of the 137 passengers were seriously injured and the captain and 41 passengers suffered minor injuries.

NTSB investigators said air traffic controllers directed Flight 1455 onto a path that was too high as the jetliner approached the airport. Investigators said the jetliner was traveling about 200 mph as it landed, about 50 mph faster than normal. The plane also was at a six-degree angle, about twice as steep as usual.

“That was way too fast, and that meant trouble,” Barry Schiff, a retired Trans World Airlines pilot and air crash consultant said.

NTSB investigators also said the pilots did not apply the wheel brakes with full force, which led to the plane crashing through the barrier at the end of the 6,032-foot runway.

“Had the accident flight crew applied maximum manual brakes immediately upon touchdown, the airplane would likely have stopped before impacting the blast fence,” the final NTSB report said.

The plane’s captain, Howard Peterson, a veteran with 11,000 hours of flight time, exclaimed, “My fault! My fault!” as the jetliner skidded through the fence, according to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder.

SAN FRANCISCO — A trial date has been set in federal court for the 116 civil suits filed against four former Oakland police officers known as “The Riders.”

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on Wednesday selected Jan. 14 as the date where a representative sample of five to 20 cases will be presented, said attorney Jim Chanin, who’s representing many of the plaintiffs

He said he had hoped to avoid court by reaching a settlement, but he is not optimistic that will happen. A final effort between both sides will be attempted Monday.

“There’s a stated desire to settle, but when it actually comes down to the nitty gritty of negotiations, it doesn’t look like it,” Chanin said.

Jury selection for the criminal trial already is underway in Alameda County Superior Court.

Clarence “Chuck” Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matthew Hornung allegedly beat suspects, filed false police reports and obstructed justice. All were fired after a rookie, Mabanag’s trainee, turned them in. A fourth officer and the alleged ringleader of the group, Frank Vazquez, is believed to have fled to Mexico.

The first two exist today; the others are images from the year 2054 as depicted in Steven Spielberg’s new movie, “Minority Report.”

Indeed, many of the film’s futuristic visions, including a holographic greeter at the Gap and animated cereal boxes, could become real using technology being developed today.

Already, personal video recorders, such as those made by TiVo and SONICBlue, can collect information on individual households’ viewing habits, allowing advertisers to more precisely target their messages.

And the next generation of cell phones will have position detection capability, allowing retailers, such as Starbucks, to ring customers as they approach a store and offer time-sensitive discounts.

In 1999, Spielberg convened a three-day think tank to pick the brains of 23 futurists about likely changes technology would bring during the next 50 years.

“The futurists that I assembled around that table didn’t agree with each other on every point, but one of the several things they did unanimously agree on was that the entire advertising industry is going to recognize us as individuals, and they’re going to spot-sell to us,” Spielberg said. “They will sell directly to you.”

With inventions such as personal video recorders enabling consumers to tune out “dumb” ads, today’s pitchmen are anxiously searching for personalized approaches that depend on an increasingly sophisticated knowledge of customer habits and desires.

From Amazon.com, which uses “cookies” planted on your hard drive to track purchases, to supermarket loyalty cards that deliver coupons based on past buys, people are already sacrificing some privacy in exchange for convenience.

“It’s a question of how much do we want to sacrifice our ability to hide and how much do we want to be uniquely served — that’s one of the trade-offs we are making,” said Peter Schwartz, chairman of Global Business Network and the head of Spielberg’s “think tank.”

In one key scene in “Minority Report,” detective John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, is fleeing agents of the Pre-Crime police unit chasing him for a murder he is foretold to commit. As he runs down a street, electronic billboards scan his retinas and hurl personalized pitches his way.

“John Anderton, you could use a Guinness about now!” one billboard shouts.

In another scene, Cruise enters a Gap, where his eyes are again scanned, triggering a holographic version of the Gap’s greeter who asks if he was satisfied with his last purchase.

In the future, it seems, the eyes are the window to the wallet.

Much of the technology portrayed in the movie is already being developed and tested, including flexible computer screens thinner than a business card that can receive images over a wireless network.

“The ability to have billboard-size displays, newspapers that are updating themselves, packaging able to animate, these are all quite possible within 10 to 15 years,” said Russ Wilcox, general manager of E Ink Corp., a Cambridge, Mass.-based company developing so-called digital paper.

The first two exist today; the others are images from the year 2054 as depicted in Steven Spielberg’s new movie, “Minority Report.”

Indeed, many of the film’s futuristic visions, including a holographic greeter at the Gap and animated cereal boxes, could become real using technology being developed today.

Already, personal video recorders, such as those made by TiVo and SONICBlue, can collect information on individual households’ viewing habits, allowing advertisers to more precisely target their messages.

And the next generation of cell phones will have position detection capability, allowing retailers, such as Starbucks, to ring customers as they approach a store and offer time-sensitive discounts.

In 1999, Spielberg convened a three-day think tank to pick the brains of 23 futurists about likely changes technology would bring during the next 50 years.

“The futurists that I assembled around that table didn’t agree with each other on every point, but one of the several things they did unanimously agree on was that the entire advertising industry is going to recognize us as individuals, and they’re going to spot-sell to us,” Spielberg said. “They will sell directly to you.”

With inventions such as personal video recorders enabling consumers to tune out “dumb” ads, today’s pitchmen are anxiously searching for personalized approaches that depend on an increasingly sophisticated knowledge of customer habits and desires.

From Amazon.com, which uses “cookies” planted on your hard drive to track purchases, to supermarket loyalty cards that deliver coupons based on past buys, people are already sacrificing some privacy in exchange for convenience.

“It’s a question of how much do we want to sacrifice our ability to hide and how much do we want to be uniquely served — that’s one of the trade-offs we are making,” said Peter Schwartz, chairman of Global Business Network and the head of Spielberg’s “think tank.”

In one key scene in “Minority Report,” detective John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, is fleeing agents of the Pre-Crime police unit chasing him for a murder he is foretold to commit. As he runs down a street, electronic billboards scan his retinas and hurl personalized pitches his way.

“John Anderton, you could use a Guinness about now!” one billboard shouts.

In another scene, Cruise enters a Gap, where his eyes are again scanned, triggering a holographic version of the Gap’s greeter who asks if he was satisfied with his last purchase.

In the future, it seems, the eyes are the window to the wallet.

Much of the technology portrayed in the movie is already being developed and tested, including flexible computer screens thinner than a business card that can receive images over a wireless network.

“The ability to have billboard-size displays, newspapers that are updating themselves, packaging able to animate, these are all quite possible within 10 to 15 years,” said Russ Wilcox, general manager of E Ink Corp., a Cambridge, Mass.-based company developing so-called digital paper.

SAN FRANCISCO — Online technology news provider CNet Networks Inc. on Thursday said it will shed about 10 percent of its work force, or nearly 200 employees, as part of its latest effort to survive the high-tech meltdown that has dominated its coverage for nearly two years.

The San Francisco-based company’s third major layoff in 16 months will pare its payroll to about 1,700 workers, still well above the nearly 700 people that CNet employed at the end of 1999.

Like many Internet companies, CNet expanded rapidly to capitalize on the dot-com craze that helped make its site one of the most widely read on the Web.

CNet remains a popular destination, attracting 23.2 million unique visitors in May to make it the 11th most traffic on the Web, according to comScore Media Metrix. But the company hasn’t been able to make money since investors stopped pouring money into high-tech businesses that used to advertise heavily on the site.

After cashing in on some of its own dot-com investments to post a $417 million profit in 1999, CNet lost $2.5 billion during the past two years.

Salon warns it needsto raise more money to survive

SAN FRANCISCO — Online magazine publisher Salon Media Group Inc. faces the prospect of going out of business if it can’t raise more money this summer, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As of March 31, San Francisco-based Salon said it was down to its last $1.5 million in cash — enough to keep its business running for three or four months, according to the company’s annual report to shareholders.

Salon’s precarious position prompted the company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to conclude there is “substantial doubt” about its prospects for survival.

The auditor’s warning threatens to make it even more difficult for Salon to raise money, the company said.

Intuit agrees to buyConnecticut software maker for$85 million

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Intuit Inc. announced plans Thursday to buy small business software maker Eclipse Inc. for $85 million in cash, the latest in flurry of acquisitions.

Mountain View-based Intuit, the maker of the popular Quicken and TurboTax software, expects the addition of Eclipse to add at least $40 million to its revenue during its fiscal year ending July 2003. Intuit expects to retain virtually all of Shelton, Conn.-based Eclipse’s 220 employees. Eclipse also has offices in Boulder, Colo. and West Yarmouth, Mass.

With Eclipse’s contribution, Intuit expects its fiscal 2003 revenue to reach as high as $1.75 billion, up from management’s previous projection of $1.73 billion. Intuit also said its earnings, excluding special charges, could be a penny higher than previous projections of $1.25 to $1.31 per share.

Intuit’s shares rose 29 cents to close at $47.44 Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Peregrine Systems notified of Nasdaq intent to delist

SAN DIEGO — Peregrine Systems Inc., a software company under SEC investigation for possible accounting fraud, said Thursday it received notification that the Nasdaq Stock Market intends to delist its stock on July 5.

Peregrine is in violation a Nasdaq rule after auditor Arthur Andersen LLP said the company’s financial statements for 2000, 2001, and the first three quarters of fiscal 2002 should not be relied upon.

San Diego-based Peregrine fired Arthur Andersen as its auditor April 2 and fired its replacement auditor, KPMG, at the end of May. KPMG sent the SEC a letter alleging possible fraud at the company.

KPMG had found that, beginning in 2000, Peregrine apparently overstated revenue by about $100 million.

Few home improvement projects are as instantly gratifying as is a fresh coat of paint. It can, in a matter of hours, transform a dark and dingy space into a bright and cheerful one.

There are other benefits. A fresh coat of high-quality paint is more washable and, thus, easier to keep clean. And, in the case of an exterior job, high-quality paint acts to protect siding, trim and other painted finishes from weather damage.

Painting can be one of most user-friendly of do-it-yourself projects. Armed with high-quality paint, the proper applicators, ample time and a bit of practice, you’ll get impressive results. As are many home improvement projects, painting can be therapeutic and enjoyable. Yet, a painting project could become a nightmare. There are steps that that will ensure success.

An important part of a good paint job is preparation — making sure that the surface is clean and free of chipped and flaking paint. Damaged areas should be patched, sanded and primed. Masking and protection is another factor that can yield professional results. Use blue painter’s tape and plastic or canvas drop cloths to prevent paint from making contact with areas not intended to be painted.

What most influences the quality of a paint job is the quality of the paint, the type of paint, and the applicators — brushes, rollers, etc.

There are two basic types of paint that can be used for interior and exterior house-painting — oil-base (alkyd) and water-base (latex). All paint, oil or water, consists of three basic ingredients that greatly influence its quality and use. They are pigments and fillers, liquids or “carriers,” and binders.

Pigment and fillers are for hiding and color. According to chemists, they consist of organic colors, inorganic colors and extenders such as clay. This is really where the “rubber meets the road” when it comes to paint quality. Fillers typically consist of titanium dioxide or clay. Better-quality paints contain more titanium dioxide and less clay. Titanium dioxide gives the paint better “hide.” Titanium dioxide also is a substantially more costly ingredient than clay. Thus, if you’re looking for one-coat coverage, look for paint that contains more titanium dioxide and less clay.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to determine quality by the label. There are, however, three means to determine quality — name brand, price and touch. Start by selecting a respected name brand and plan to spend about $20 to $25 per gallon. A trick to determine paint quality is the touch test. Have a gallon of the paint mechanically shaken. Have the paint salesperson remove the lid. Stick your thumb and index finger into the paint and rub them together. If the paint feels smooth and silky it is good quality. If it feels gritty, it has high clay content and you can count on more than one-coat coverage.

The second ingredient in paint is the liquid or solvent. It gives the paint proper consistency and acts as a “carrier” for the binders and pigments. Its purpose has been fully served once it has completely evaporated. In oil-base paints the solvent is mineral spirits. Water is the solvent in latex or water-base paints. Most do-it-yourselfers prefer water-base latex paints because they are particularly easy to work with and offer soap and water cleanup.

Mineral spirits must be used for cleanup when using oil-base paint.

Binders are the final ingredient in paint. Binders are used for adhesion and film bond. Linseed oil, tung oil or alkyd resins are the primary binders for oil-base paints. One-hundred percent acrylic or vinyl acrylic are the binders for water-base paint. Better quality paints also contain mildew inhibitors and ingredients that minimize running and splattering.

Now that you know to look for high-quality paint, should you use oil or latex? It might be appropriate for you to use both, depending upon what’s being painted. We recommend oil-base primers and finish coats for interior doors and trim (windows, doors, crown, base) because it offers a hard abrasion-resistant surface that easily can be cleaned. Oil is also an excellent primer for raw metal rain gutters, ornamental iron fencing and furniture and bare wood. Use a paintbrush made of natural bristles for the best results when using oil-base paint.

Latex is the best choice for interior walls and ceilings and exterior siding and trim (wood or stucco). Most do-it-yourselfers prefer water-base paints because they are easy to use, and cleanup can be done with soap and water. In addition, latex paints dry quicker than oils and don’t have the pungent odor that is common with oil-base paints.

Whereas in the past we have exclusively recommended an oil-base primer and finish coat for “wet” areas such as kitchens, baths and laundries, today’s high-quality, 100-percent acrylic latex paints — especially those with higher sheen or gloss — are exceptional at resisting moisture, dirt and stains. And they stand up, even after repeated washing or scrubbing.

Thanks to advances in latex technology, latex paints go on smoother; brush and roller marks are barely noticeable. According to paint experts, the latest top-quality acrylic latex paints also have a longer “wet-edge time” than do older counterparts. This tendency to dry more slowly makes it easier to blend one section of paint into another, which can be especially important when working over a large and-or complex area.

Tip: If your painting project will take more than a day, wrap your roller cover or paint brush in plastic food wrap and place it in the fridge overnight. Remove it the next morning, remove the plastic wrap, let it reach room temperature and continue where you left off.

For more home improvement tips and information visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com.

As the Earth shook, Mara Cantelo ran from her home in time to see her white pickup truck bounce clear of the ground and the branches of a nearby Joshua tree sway more violently than they ever had in the Mojave Desert wind.

Nearby, a gash 53 miles long opened up on the desert floor, as an earthquake tumbled buildings, snapped pipes and ruptured asphalt roads.

The June 28, 1992, magnitude-7.3 earthquake was the largest to hit the contiguous United States in 40 years. It was felt across the West and is thought to have triggered other earthquakes as far away as Yellowstone National Park.

Just three hours after the major earthquake, a violent aftershock hit. That quake, a magnitude-6.5, struck just 30 miles to the west, high in the San Bernardino Mountains.

“It was unbelievable, I was standing in the living room holding the TV up, trying to find my wife and dog. We spent the entire day in the front yard,” said Jay Tunnell, advertising manager at KBHR-FM in Big Bear Lake.

The quakes killed one person — a 3-year-old boy caught in the collapse of a masonry chimney — and injured 400. About 4,000 buildings and businesses were damaged and another 100 destroyed. Estimates pegged the toll of the earthquakes at nearly $100 million.

“We never expected anything like that, really. You prepare for it, you talk about being prepared, but you never expect it to happen to you,” said Cantelo, who as a volunteer with the American Red Cross helped serve 68,000 meals over the next month to victims of the earthquakes.

Both quakes struck in the morning — the first at 4:57 a.m. near Landers, about 110 miles east-northeast of Los Angeles. It was the largest in the 48 continental states since the magnitude-7.7 Tehachapi quake near Bakersfield on July 21, 1952.

The aftershock followed at 8:05 a.m., five miles southeast of Big Bear Lake.

“Our feeling had been that earthquakes broke individual fault segments,” Henyey said. Instead, the Landers quake ruptured five or more adjacent faults, he said.

“It was a real surprise to us. What it said was no longer do ruptures stop at these junction points, but they can jump and grow into much larger events,” he said.

Landers also triggered quakes hundreds of miles away: seismic areas near Mount Lassen, the Napa Valley and Mammoth Lakes rumbled for days and weeks after Landers.

“It was really the first earthquake that convinced the scientific community that you get triggered earthquakes at great distances,” said Susan Hough, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist. “There had always been the question whether these things were just a coincidence.”

Today, a decade after the one-two punch of the Landers and Big Bear earthquakes, the scars are mostly healed.

The photos that showed the partial collapse of a Yucca Valley bowling alley were removed by its new owner just a few weeks ago.

SAN FRANCISCO — Californians don’t think there’s been much progress in solving environmental problems in the last two decades, and they’re pessimistic about any progress being made, according to a recent survey.

The nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California study released Thursday shows about 78 percent of Californians believe there has been “some” or “hardly any” progress since the 1980s. And 79 percent have “some” or “hardly any” optimism that environmental problems will be under control in the next 20 years.

“I think the most important finding is that environmental concern and interest among Californians continues to be very strong despite the downturn in the economy and the state’s budget crisis,” said Mark Baldassare, a senior fellow at the institute and survey director.

The study also shows that respondents did not have much confidence in President Bush or Gov. Gray Davis working to improve the environment. Only 39 percent of Californians approved of the president’s handling of environmental issues and fewer — 35 percent — approved of the job Davis was doing.

But Davis spokesman David Chai defended the governor’s record on the environment.

“Under his watch, the fact is that our water is purer and our air is cleaner and our land is certainly better protected,” Chai said. “He’s done more for the environment than any other governor in the last 20 years in the state of California.”

About 34 percent of respondents said air pollution was the most important concern they had, followed by 13 percent citing growth and development. Water, ocean and beach pollution ranked third at 12 percent and 9 percent of respondents said water supply was the most important issue facing the state.

The survey also shows that 53 percent of state residents say they know they must make lifestyle changes to solve environmental problems. Sixty-four percent say stricter environmental laws are necessary despite any effect on the economy, but 31 percent say the cost in jobs and the toll on the economy would be too high.

Also, about 58 percent of respondents said that poorer neighborhoods are more likely to be polluted by toxic waste and to house polluting facilities.

The institute polled 2,029 adult residents of California by telephone between May 28 and June 4, in English and Spanish. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

SACRAMENTO — A bill to raise the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21 was approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.

Assemblyman Paul Koretz, the bill’s author, said the measure would reduce smoking among teen-agers by making it more difficult for them to buy tobacco products.

“This bill will make California the strictest state in the nation when it comes to allowing people to smoke,” said Koretz, D-West Hollywood. “Once again, California can lead the way in preventing young people from becoming addicted.”

The tighter age restrictions will make it more difficult for 12- to 17-year-olds to buy tobacco, he said, because they’ll have to pass for age 21.

“And they won’t be able to easily bum cigarettes from their 18-year-old friends,” Koretz said.

Most smokers are hooked by age 20, he said, and this would reduce the number of lifelong smokers by encouraging young people to wait before taking up the habit.

The bill was sponsored by the California Medical Association and supported by the American Lung Association of California and the California Nurses Association, among others.

If approved, those between 18 and 21 when the bill took effect would still be able to buy tobacco.

The bill would have an unknown fiscal impact on state programs that depend on a 50-cent-per-pack tax on tobacco products. But that loss could be offset by long-term savings if less people seek health care for smoking-related illnesses.

Dennis Hiller, a representative of the National Youth Rights Association, was the sole opponent to testify at the Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing.

“My brother is 13. I don’t want to see him smoke,” Hiller said. “This is an admirable goal ... but this bill isn’t the means to accomplish it.”

People who have reached the age of 18 can sign contracts and serve in the armed forces and should have the responsibility to make their own decisions about smoking, Hiller said.

“Prohibition won’t stop young people from smoking, education will,” he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — With a contract deadline looming, negotiations aren’t going well between shippers and dock workers who move billions of dollars of goods each year through West Coast ports, a union official said Wednesday.

The pessimistic comments are the first public word on the talks, which began May 13, since a self-imposed news blackout. The contract expires Monday.

A strike, or a lockout of employees, could have deep repercussions for the world economy.

“This is definitely unsettling. This is not what you want to hear,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokesman Steve Stallone said in an interview that an agreement before the July 1 deadline was possible, but negotiators have yet to delve into pivotal issues, including technological changes that shippers want to increase efficiency.

“We’ve got a ways to go,” Stallone said.

The association that represents shippers wants to cut health care coverage and freeze wages for three years, Stallone said. Shippers disputed those points.

The contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and 10,500 West Coast longshoremen controls the flow of goods through all America’s 29 major Pacific ports. Last year, that trade amounted to $260 billion in cargo.

Outside observers thought the major sticking point would be how to bring new technology to ports that are less efficient than rivals in Asia and Europe. Instead, both sides said they haven’t yet reached the key issue of modernization.

With the ports handling goods that reach every state in the union, the implications for American businesses and consumers could be grim.

“A contentious shutdown of the West Coast docks carries the very real risk of triggering a sudden crisis in international financial markets,” wrote Stephen S. Cohen, a regional planning professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Pacific Maritime Association spokesman Jack Suite said the union was mischaracterizing the talks and chided its members for breaking the news blackout.

The association “has no interest in reducing benefits, but has made proposals which are designed to provide benefits in a more efficient and cost-effective manner and other proposals that increase the level of benefits,” Suite said.

Stallone said the union doesn’t object to reducing employers’ health care costs — so long as that doesn’t mean a cut in benefits that the union first won at the bargaining table in the early 1960s.

SAN FRANCISCO — A day after he shocked the nation by declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, a federal appeals court judge Thursday blocked his ruling from being enforced. Meanwhile, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Justice Department plans to seek a rehearing.

Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, who authored the 2-1 opinion that the phrase “under God” crossed the line between church and state, stayed his decision — preventing it from taking effect until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides whether it wants to alter course.

The appeals court can rehear the case with the same three judges, or an 11-judge panel. It has often overturned controversial three-judge opinions. Goodwin’s latest action has no immediate impact, since the ruling already was on hold by court rules for 45 days to allow for any challenges.

Goodwin’s latest ruling does not overturn the decision, but places it in a permanent state of suspended animation until the court decides otherwise.

Ashcroft said Thursday the Justice Department will request a hearing by an 11-judge panel. As of Thursday afternoon, court clerk Cathy Catterson said no petitions for rehearing had been submitted.

Vikram Amar, a Hastings College of the Law scholar who closely follows the appeals court, said the latest ruling means that, for now, Wednesday’s opinion finding the pledge unconstitutional “has no legal force or effect.”

“They’re acknowledging the likelihood that the whole 9th Circuit may take a look at this,” Amar said.

Goodwin’s original ruling sparked outrage across the political spectrum by ruling it is unconstitutional for schoolchildren to recite — or even be forced to listen to — the Pledge of Allegiance.

Legal scholars immediately said the ruling likely would be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, if not reversed beforehand by the 9th Circuit.

“I would bet an awful lot on that,” said Harvard University scholar Laurence Tribe.

Wednesday’s ruling was in response to a California atheist’s bid to keep his second-grade daughter from being exposed to religion in school.

Goodwin said leading schoolchildren in a pledge that says the United States is “one nation under God” is as objectionable as making them say “we are a nation ‘under Jesus,’ a nation ‘under Vishnu,’ a nation ‘under Zeus,’ or a nation ‘under no god,’ because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion.”

The decision was met with widespread criticism.

President Bush found the ruling “ridiculous,” saying Thursday it was “out of step with the traditions and history of America” as he promised to appoint “commonsense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God.”

SACRAMENTO — The state Assembly overwhelmingly approved a “Protect Our Pledge” resolution Thursday to protest the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional.

Written by Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, the resolution calls first for the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the ruling. If that doesn’t happen, the resolution calls for Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to authorize recitation of the pledge in any public facility.

“The most overturned circuit court in our country, the 9th Circuit, needs to be reminded that their job is to uphold the Constitution and to protect the Constitution, and not to undermine the Constitution,” Cardoza said.

Although the 110-year-old pledge has been changed several times, a constitutional amendment would preserve it in its current form and would require another constitutional convention to change it.

The Assembly resolution passed 69-0.

A similar resolution was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, calling on California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to join the U.S. Department of Justice in supporting the constitutionality of the pledge. That resolution is expected to reach the Senate floor on Friday.

I'm a cardiology fellow at the University of Virginia. A graduate-student friend of mine has a 1995 Ford F150 that he loves more than a child. He also listens to his truck with deep intensity. Because I am a loyal fan of your column and because he thinks you are a couple of pedantic car quacks, I've decided to get your advice on his car to prove your skills. In the past month, he has noticed a hissing sound near the intake manifold during the peak of hard acceleration. It's there when the engine is cold, and it gets louder when he releases the gas pedal. He thinks it is a manifold gasket, but I don't know what that is. Could you please give me some advice that I can give to him and that would make a layperson sound intelligent? – Adam

RAY: Of course we can, Adam. The first thing you have to do is establish that you "speak the language." You can do this by "clarifying" a few of the facts you already know.

TOM: It would sound something like this: "It's an F150, huh? And the noise gets louder when you take your foot off the gas?" You're establishing here that A) you know a great many types of cars; and 2) you know that when a hissing noise gets louder at idle (when the engine is producing the most vacuum), it's a textbook case of a vacuum leak.

RAY: Then you want to break a little new ground. So you ask, "Is it a 4.6?" That's a reference to the size of the engine in liters. No matter what he says back to you, you just nod your head in knowing recognition, as if that answer has significant meaning for you, too, and is leading you unwaveringly toward the answer.

TOM: Then you take your swing: "I think it's a vacuum leak, but I don't think it's the manifold gasket. I think it's the gasket between the throttle body and the intake manifold."

RAY: He'll probably say something like "Think so?"

TOM: You say, "Well, you've checked the vacuum hoses that come off the manifold, right? I mean, I assume you've checked for cracked hoses already."

RAY: And he'll probably say, "Oh yeah," whether he has or not, while making a mental note to check the hoses for cracks. And then, before you can get yourself in any more trouble, turn and walk off with the line "Let me know what you find."

TOM: And if it turns out that you're right, send him a bill for $300 for the diagnosis ... just like cardiology, Adam.

Car theft by the numbers

This year's list of the top stolen cars has come out. However, the list seems to correspond to the most-sold cars. Is there a list of stolen cars that is weighted to the number of each model on the road? Toyota Camrys are more likely to be stolen because there are more Camrys on the road, right? But wouldn't my Lamborghini be more likely to be stolen than my Toyota Camry? – Jon

TOM: Yes. When you look at it on a weighted basis (thefts per the number of those cars on the road), I suspect that a higher percentage of Lamborghinis are stolen than Camrys. And they're stolen for different reasons.

RAY: There are two basic reasons why thieves steal cars. One is for illegal export. Let's say a guy in Bogota, Columbia, wants a fancy sports car. A theft ring in the United States might go out and steal one for him, and then sneak it out of the country and sell it to this guy. That's the scenario under which your Lamborghini would be stolen.

TOM: The other reason for stealing a car is to strip it and sell the parts at a huge markup. In this case, you need a huge demand for parts. And the most popular cars on the road are the ones for which there is the greatest demand for parts. That's the scenario under which your Camry would be stolen.

RAY: While we don't have actual numbers for Lamborghini, we did get numbers for some other models from the Highway Loss Data Institute for 1998-2000.

TOM: Looking at the limited list it provided, the rate of theft claims (that is, the number of cars stolen per 1,000 vehicles) for so-called "fancy cars" is higher than average. The average theft rate for all cars is 2.6 per thousand. The Chevy Corvette, for example, has 3.3 theft claims per 1,000 cars registered. The Cadillac Escalade, a currently desirable luxury sport utility vehicle, had 6.5 per 1,000. There's also the inexplicable chart-topping Acura Integra, which had 20.6 per 1,000.

RAY: By comparison, Camrys are stolen at a rate of 1.83 per thousand, which is below average. That's still a lot of cars, though, because there are lots of Camrys out there. But the chances of YOUR Camry being stolen are lower than the chances of your Lamborghini being stolen.

TOM: Of course, the chances of your Lamborghini getting stolen just got higher, now that you've written to us and told us you have a one in your driveway ... and included your return address in the letter, Jon.

NEW YORK — David Letterman was looking for a bright side to the Martha Stewart scandal: Though shares of her company have recently been plummeting in value, Dave joked that the stock certificates make lovely place mats.

Letterman isn’t the only one taking pleasure in Martha’s pain. I, too, count myself among those savoring the rich stew she never meant to be simmering in.

I admit it. Martha Stewart bugs me. She always has.

Not because I already know how to press pansies, craft a bird bath or bake blueberry crumbcake, which I don’t (at least, not up to Martha’s rigorous standards). But if I wanted to learn, I would consult Martha.

And yet ... I just can’t bring myself to. Watching her on TV, I find that, despite her tidy, step-by-step presentation, I am incapable of paying attention to what she says.

Instead, I’m distracted by thoughts of the voracious drive required to plant her in the ranks of the nation’s wealthiest, most powerful media magnates. For me, Stewart’s “Type A” spirit mocks her placid on-camera style as she stitches an apron or prepares chicken tacos that are “carefree, easy and ultra-delicious.”

Watching her, I can never relax. Nor am I able to believe that, underneath the surface, she can either. After all, she is the sleep-deprived driving force in so many books and magazines, the radio show, her newspaper column, her product lines and direct sales, plus TV programs on cable’s Food Network and HGTV channels as well as her daily syndicated hour.

“Every year I’m ama-a-zed at how luxurious this particular rhododendron becomes,” Stewart chirped on a recent broadcast from her yard on Lily Pond Lane as she prepared to pick “some of the wonderful full-headed blooms so that I can make a small flower arrangement for my table.”

Sure, that’s a good thing. But as the reigning asset of her media empire, she is hard pressed to convince me that — in real life, when the cameras are off — she ever has a moment to stop and smell the flowers she tells us how to enjoy.

In short, I can never get beyond my suspicion that the gracious, do-it-yourself philosophy Stewart advances is lost on her in her push for more success. Not that her success isn’t deserved. I just don’t buy the act with which she courts it.

I’m not alone. In his recent book, “Martha Inc.,” Christopher Byron cited “the widening disconnect between the public image of Martha Stewart, and the private reality of the person who bore the name.”

RENO, Nev. — Archaeologists digging at the site of a black-owned saloon in the historic Old West mining town of Virginia City have unearthed a 130-year-old bottle of Tabasco brand hot sauce.

The bottle, the oldest style of Tabasco bottle known to exist, was reconstructed from 21 shards of glass excavated from beneath the site of the Boston Saloon, which was owned by a black man from Massachusetts and catered to blacks and whites alike from 1864-75.

“The Tabasco bottle is particularly intriguing because of what it implies about African-American cuisine and the development of the West,” said Kelly Dixon, the administrator of the Comstock Archaeology Center who is supervising the dig in Virginia City about 20 miles southeast of Reno.

“This was an exotic product and Comstock African-Americans were apparently the ones breaking this new ground,” Dixon said.

Edmund McIlhenny, a New Orleans banker, began blending aged red peppers, salt and vinegar to create the Tabasco brand pepper sauce in 1868 on Avery Island, La. Officials for the sauce maker, McIlhenny Co., said he first used discarded cologne bottles to hold his sauce but soon was making his own bottles specifically for his product.

The bottle was displayed for news photographers Thursday in Carson City.

“Having this innovative product associated with an African-American business dramatically underscores the fact that diversity played an important role in building Virginia City into an internationally famous mining district,” said Ron James, Nevada’s historic preservation officer.

“The discovery of this bottle is a perfect example of the importance of the Comstock Mining District and also of how historical archaeology can be a powerful tool in reconstructing the past,” he said.

The district was one of the richest sources of gold and silver ever discovered.

The Boston Saloon site is behind the Bucket of Blood Saloon, which was established in 1876 and still stands at the corner of D and Union streets. Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, got his start a block away at the local newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise.

An excavation two summers ago yielded roughly 30,000 artifacts in an effort to learn more about the estimated 100 blacks who lived in the bustling mining town of 20,000 in the 1870s.

The owner, William A. G. Brown, was believed to have been born as a free black in 1833. He arrived in Virginia City in 1862.

“In general, a mining camp like that may be perceived as a white phenomenon,” James said. “But there were a lot of (black) business owners who were well known and much respected. One ran for mayor. Another fellow was a doctor practicing for well over 10 years.”

Dixon said they earlier determined that customers at the Boston Saloon ate more lamb and essence of ginger than at other Virginia City saloons.

The bottle itself appears to be a “Type 1a bottle ... one of the earliest forms of Tabasco bottles, distinctive because of its embossment and sharp shoulders,” said Ashley Dumas, a graduate student at the University of Alabama who directed excavations at the original Tabasco factory in southwest Louisiana.

Dumas said McIlhenny found the bottles would break easily at the sharp shoulder so soon switched to the round-shouldered bottle known today with the red and white label.

“Because this bottle dates to about 1870, it may be a form of bottle even earlier than the classic Type 1a,” she said.

ATLANTA — More teenagers are using cocaine and regularly smoking and drinking, but an increasing number are also wearing seat belts and refusing to ride with a driver who’s been drinking, according to a survey released Thursday.

The annual survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in schools across the country, examined the behavior of 13,600 high school students.

The survey found injury and violence-related behaviors have fallen, but kids still regularly smoke and drink — nearly half said they’d consumed more than one alcoholic beverage more than once in the month before the survey.

The number of teenagers who said they had tried cocaine within the past 30 days rose to 9.4 percent, up from 5.9 percent in 1991. About 4.2 percent of students said they had used cocaine in the past 30 days, a 59 percent increase from 1991.

NEW YORK — Heeding calls that the SAT should measure what students learn in class, College Board trustees voted Thursday to add an essay to the nation’s most widely used college entrance exam, toughen its math section and eliminate analogy questions.

The head of the 170,000-student University of California system had at one point suggested dropping the SAT as an admissions requirement, arguing it failed to test student knowledge. But Richard Atkinson, president of the UC system, said he was delighted with the makeover and called it “a major event in the history of standardized testing.”

College Board President Gaston Caperton said the new test, to be introduced in March 2005, “will be more aligned with curriculum and more aligned with state standards. I want you to think of this as a test of basic success skills, of reading, writing and math, connected with reasoning.”

This is the second major revision in less than a decade for the exam, taken at least once by 1.3 million of last year’s high school graduates. The last reform also was aimed at better reflecting students’ mastery of classroom subjects.

College Board officials said that some of the latest revisions had been proposed but not adopted in that 1994 revamping.NEW YORK — Heeding calls that the SAT should measure what students learn in class, College Board trustees voted Thursday to add an essay to the nation’s most widely used college entrance exam, toughen its math section and eliminate analogy questions.

The head of the 170,000-student University of California system had at one point suggested dropping the SAT as an admissions requirement, arguing it failed to test student knowledge. But Richard Atkinson, president of the UC system, said he was delighted with the makeover and called it “a major event in the history of standardized testing.”

College Board President Gaston Caperton said the new test, to be introduced in March 2005, “will be more aligned with curriculum and more aligned with state standards. I want you to think of this as a test of basic success skills, of reading, writing and math, connected with reasoning.”

This is the second major revision in less than a decade for the exam, taken at least once by 1.3 million of last year’s high school graduates. The last reform also was aimed at better reflecting students’ mastery of classroom subjects.

College Board officials said that some of the latest revisions had been proposed but not adopted in that 1994 revamping.

The son of notorious real estate tycoon Lakireddy Bali Reddy will likely face two years of prison time for his involvement in a family sex smuggling ring in Berkeley.

Vijay Lakireddy, 32, reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors Wednesday that dismissed charges of importing teenage girls from India for “immoral purposes” in turn for a guilty plea to one count of immigration fraud. Charges of sexual misconduct against Lakireddy were dropped last year after testimony was mishandled by language interpreters.

Lakireddy’s plea comes one year after his father was sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling Indian teenagers into Berkeley restaurants and apartments for sex and cheap labor.

Two additional family members have also received lesser sentences for their roles in the operation, and Lakireddy’s brother is scheduled to go to court in January.

Prosecutor Stephen Corrigan, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, refused to comment on Tuesday’s plea bargain. The plea comes six months before Lakireddy’s scheduled trial date.

Lakireddy, during his brief appearance in front of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, described the negotiations he had taken up with federal prosecutors only as “long.”

He left the courtroom, accompanied by his wife and attorney, looking mostly relieved and refusing to comment on the plea agreement. When questioned, Lakireddy said only, “I love my friends, I love my family and I love my country.”

In the plea bargain, Lakireddy admits to falsifying an immigration visa for an Indian man, Venkateswara Vemireddy, who posed as the father of two Indian girls living illegally in the United States.

The crime carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, though attorneys on both sides are requesting two years of prison time. A federal judge is scheduled to issue a sentence Sept. 30.

Outside the federal courthouse in Oakland, a small gathering of woman who have consistently urged stiff penalties for the Berkeley family, expressed disappointment with Tuesday’s events.

“So many charges were dropped that should have been held against him,” said Oakland resident Carol DeWitt. “This family has exploited people for money and children for sexual purposes for 15 years... . Now they’re only getting a slap on the wrist.”

Mills College Professor of Sociology Diana Russell echoed the sentiment.

“What happened to the sexual slavery bit?” Russell said. “Trafficking girls for sex and for labor is a real escalating international problem. To ignore it is appalling.”

The family’s illegal exploits surfaced in November 1999 when a 17-year-old Indian girl died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a downtown Berkeley apartment owned by Reddy.

The girl’s 15-year-old sister, who was also living in the apartment, survived the deadly poisoning that was blamed on improper ventilation and later told police she was brought to the country and forced to have sex.

Next month, Reddy’s brother Jayaprakash Lakireddy begins serving a one-year sentence in a halfway house for conspiring to commit immigration fraud. Reddy’s sister-in-law Annapurna Lakireddy was sentenced to six months of home detention in April for the same offense.

Prasad Lakireddy, Reddy’s son and brother of Vijay Lakireddy, has so far refused to enter a plea bargain like his brother and remains scheduled for a January trial.

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — A glass of wine with that book? A sip of specialty liquor-laced coffee with that CD?

Borders bookstore patrons will soon offer those options after the city council unanimously approved a request to permit the transfer of a liquor license to a restaurant inside a Borders store, The Detroit News reported in a Wednesday story.

Alcohol consumption will not be allowed inside the bookstore section and the restaurant where the liquor will be served will have its own separate entrance, said Dana Whinnery, Farmington Hills’ assistant city manager.

Cosi, the New York-based company behind the restaurant, started the concept in Paris and Manhattan.

Liquor licenses are still being sought, said attorney Kelly Allen, who represents the company in Michigan. The license still must be approved by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.

This ‘Banana’ among

nation’s sexiest

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — He’s 87 years old and still wears his trademark yellow swimsuit, but water skier “Banana” George Blair is still among the ranks of the nation’s sexiest men.

Blair is the oldest of the more than 80 athletes featured in Sports Illustrated Women’s 2002 swimsuit issue, which hit the stands Tuesday.

“There must be quite a few people out there who think I’m sexy. I’m elated. I’m just elated!” Blair said. “This is one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received.”

Blair learned to water ski at age 40 and began barefoot skiing six years later.

At age 81, he drove a race car for the first time, then learned to skydive the next year. Blair surfed for the first time when he was 83 and learned to bull ride at age 85.

Flying mammals

driving man batty

BRADENTON, Fla. — Grant Griffin’s one-bedroom apartment isn’t big enough for him, and more importantly, bats have turned up in his shower, sink and sheets. So he is moving.

Exterminators aren’t allowed to kill the bats, which are considered native wildlife and can’t be trapped or poisoned, said University of Florida assistant professor Mark Hostetler. They can only be killed if they are rabid, which county health officials are testing for after Griffin and his girlfriend discovered bite marks.

“I’m freaked out. I’m about as freaked out as I can get,” said Griffin, 49. “I feel like there are things crawling all over me.”

Bats can be locked out of houses by closing up the holes — as small as half an inch — where they enter.

But now, in the peak of the three-month bat birthing season, that would prevent mother bats from returning to their babies inside the house. The babies would die and the stench would be unbearable, said Hostetler.

Geller (“Opposition to Lawrence Lab is laughable,” 5/27/02) is clueless about the laws of probability. The only way the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste (CMTW) can dominate the City Council comment period is by chance. CMTW was lucky at the council meeting Geller refers to. However, several of the speakers supporting CMTW's issue of concern: the Lab burning tritium/hazardous waste next to the Lawrence Hall of Science, were not and are not CMTW members. Furthermore,none of the “smirking” (as well as non-smirking) faces on the front page photo in Wed., May 27 Daily Planet are those of CMTW members, but rather supporters protesting the Berkeley Labs’ (LBNL’s) combustion of radioactive/hazardous waste.

While Lawrence Berkeley Lab PR folks are feeding the public the line that tritium emissions are safe, their U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) counterparts at the Nevada Test Site have switched their concern from plutonium to tritium, because tritium, unlike plutonium, dissolves in water. “Tritium is considered the most dangerous of the materials left over from the nuclear blasts because it dissolves easily in ground water and poses a threat to public health for more than 100 years. The risk from plutonium in ground water is small because the particles that get into the water don't move very far.” (Tritium stirs concern at

Test Site”, Las Vegas Sun, Jan. 24, 1999, ,

lasvegassun.com>) Geller, it seems, blindly trusts DOE, unlike Dr. John Gofman, Professor Emeritus UCB Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, formerly with the Manhattan Project at Berkeley's Radiation Lab (now LBNL) and Director of the Biomedical Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Gofman states: ‘Credible assurance’ can not be obtained from anyone with a conflict of interest – like the Lab itself or DOE. It would be ridiculous for the Lab to tell the public and its state and local officials, ‘Just trust us’, and it would be the purest arrogance to tell the public 'it's none of your business’. The public always has a huge stake in the proper handling of hazardous wastes, both radioactive and non-radioactive. People who operate facilities with the potential to pollute need the humility and goodwill to recognize that the public has every right to impose pre-emptive measures for self-defense against such poisons before they escape.

This is especially unarguable when the potential pollutant is radioactive, since it is clear that there is NO threshold dose-level (no safe dose, so risk-free dose) of ionizing radiation. Thus, nuclear pollution, in the aggregate, causes premeditated random murder.”

Lets' not forget that while the Lawrence Berkeley Lab hides under the aura of UC. management, it is, after all, owned by the U.S. D.O.E.

Without benefit of public notification, or an environmental report subjected to public review and comment, the DOE's LBNL, as an afterthought, on June 18 e-mailed Berkeley City Council members (hauling had already begun) that up to eight truckloads per day of radioactive concrete and metallic waste from the Bevatron deconstruction are being hauled through City of Berkeley streets, destined (if not recycled into consumer goods, or buried in Richmond or Livermore landfill) for burial at the Nevada test-site.

OAKLAND – The Golden State Warriors added Mike Dunleavy, Jiri Welsch and Steve Logan to their impressive array of young talent on Wednesday.

Now if only the Warriors could decide who’s going to coach that talent.

For the second straight year, the Warriors left the NBA draft with three players to rebuild a franchise that’s been through three straight 60-loss seasons and a league-worst eight-year playoff drought.

Dunleavy, a 6-foot-9 forward considered one of the best shooters in college basketball last season at Duke, was the third overall pick.

Near the close of the first round, the Warriors acquired the rights to Czech swing guard Welsch, the 16th overall pick by Philadelphia who played in Slovenia last season. With the first pick of the second round, the Warriors chose Logan, a 5-foot-10 scorer from Cincinnati.

“Once again, I think we’ve helped our team a great deal,” Warriors general manager Garry St. Jean said. “We got three guys that interested us and that we think will make us better.”

The selection of Dunleavy was no surprise, because his decision to remain in the draft was predicated on his excitement about joining the Warriors. Dunleavy is expected to become Golden State’s starting small forward, with Antawn Jamison moving to power forward and Danny Fortson leaving town.

But the Warriors kept mum about the possibility that his father, Mike, will become the team’s new coach. Mike Dunleavy previously coached Portland, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Lakers.

St. Jean again declined comment, saying the coaching search was “ongoing.” Interim coach Brian Winters still hasn’t been told whether he’ll be back next season.

The younger Mike Dunleavy told reporters that he understood his father was at least a part of a long list of candidates for the job, though he downplayed the notion.

“We’ll let the chips fall where they do,” he said. “Maybe I’m biased, but I think he does a great job. I know we’ll have a great coach in there no matter what happens.”

Dunleavy is the Warriors’ latest foundation player — another building block on which St. Jean will attempt to rebuild.

“I’ve known this young man since he was an infant, and I’ve watched him grow,” said St. Jean, who coached Dunleavy’s father in Milwaukee during the 1980s. “He has touch. He has feel, and a real court presence. He’s a great decision-maker, and he’s very versatile.”

Dunleavy’s arrival probably signals the departure of one previous building block. Fortson, the NBA’s fourth-leading rebounder last season, won’t be happy in a reserve role.

Dunleavy expected to return to school as recently as two weeks ago, but as his draft stock kept rising, Dunleavy leaned toward the NBA. St. Jean and Jamison apparently sold Dunleavy on the Warriors’ potential during a meeting earlier this month.

“I realized it was just too big of an opportunity to pass up,” Dunleavy said. “I was always high on the Warriors. It was a situation that I was really looking forward to. I kind of knew all along that No. 3 was where I was going.”

Dunleavy averaged 17.3 points and 7.2 rebounds last season for the Blue Devils. His outside shooting and basketball sense have been praised, but there were worries about his relatively slight build, which could hinder his defense.

Welsch is only 22, but he has played five professional seasons in Europe. A 6-foot-7 guard with strong ball-handling abilities and an impressive shooting touch — he shot 65 percent from the field last season.

Welsch could play three positions, and the Warriors won’t force him into one spot.

“He’s really one of the most promising guards in Europe,” assistant GM Gary Fitzsimmons said. “We were ecstatic to do a deal and have him be available at 16.”

In the deal, Golden State returned the first-round pick it got from Philadelphia last season in a trade that sent Vonteego Cummings to the Sixers. Unless Golden State finishes with one of the NBA’s top three records next season, Philadelphia also will get the Warriors’ second-round pick in 2004.

Logan will face tough competition for a roster spot in the Warriors’ summer programs, but the first-team All-American hasn’t failed much in his career. A four-year starter for the Bearcats, he averaged 22 points and 5.3 assists in his senior season.

Superintendent Michele Lawrence acknowledged major shortcomings in the district’s food services program, including a $775,000 deficit in the cafeteria fund and meals that do not live up to the district’s ambitious food policy, at a community meeting Tuesday.

But Lawrence defended the leadership of food services director Karen Candito, arguing that the problems began before she took office this year, and said better times are ahead.

“I believe that there is a way for us to provide healthy food for kids in a cost-effective way,” she said, acknowledging that she did not yet know how to reach that goal.

Lawrence, who spoke at a meeting of the Child Nutrition Advisory Committee, a citizen group that advises the Board of Education, presented the committee with a list of 26 factors contributing to the cafeteria fund deficit.

The list included the loss of a $240,000 annual food service contract with the Emery Unified School District, the purchase of a $188,000 mobile cafeteria at Berkeley High that has gone unused, a $33,000 vacation payoff to the previous food services director, and unsatisfactory ordering and tracking procedures in some areas.

Associate Superintendent of Business Jerry Kurr said the district purchased the mobile cafeteria because it anticipated requiring freshmen to remain on campus during lunch this year. That policy has not gone into effect and Kurr said the district is considering selling the unit next year.

In order to make up this year’s cafeteria fund deficit, the district has to make a $166,000 contribution from the general fund and virtually wipe out the fund’s $847,000 reserve.

The district plans to make up next year’s deficit, in part, with a $350,000 contribution from the general fund, which will contribute to the district’s overall deficit of $2.8 million. The district also plans to reduce worker hours for a savings of over $160,000.

Stephanie Allan, a business representative for Local 39, which represents food service workers, said the reduction in hours will hinder the district’s efforts to improve food quality.

“I don’t know how you’re going to serve healthier food with less people to prepare and serve it,” she said.

The quality of district food was a hot topic at the meeting, with committee members complaining about corn dogs, sweetened cereals and other high sugar and sodium foods.

“I don’t understand what healthy means to food services,” said committee member Yolanda Huang, who has raised the issue several times at recent Board of Education meetings.

Jeanette James, field operations supervisor for food services, said the district is working to make improvements – negotiating for chocolate milk with lower sugar content and including an organic produce company in the bid for next year’s produce contract, among other measures.

Lawrence said she agreed with the committee about the need for better food.

“I’m outraged that we have Frosted Flakes and sweetened cereals,” she said. “That has to be fixed.”

Eric Weaver, committee chairman, said the group has tried to help with long-term planning but has faced continual roadblocks from food services.

“We have been totally stymied in the efforts to try to plan,” he said, noting that the group has resorted to using figures from the nearby Davis school district to develop a generic, long-term vision.

Lawrence said the district has had difficulty planning, not only in food services but in many other areas, because its data system is so faulty.

“We’ve had some serious problems in this organization,” she said.

The district is scheduled to convert to a new data system early next month.

On June 27, 1950, President Truman ordered the Air Force and Navy into the Korean conflict following a call from the U.N. Security Council for member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North.

On this date:

In 1893, the New York stock market crashed.

In 1957, more than 500 people were killed when Hurricane Audrey slammed through coastal Louisiana and Texas.

In 1969, patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, clashed with police in an incident considered the birth of the gay rights movement.

In 1973, former White House counsel John W. Dean told the Senate Watergate Committee about an “enemies list” kept by the Nixon White House.

In 1980, President Carter signed legislation reviving draft registration.

Ten years ago: Authorities found the body of kidnapped Exxon executive Sidney J. Reso buried in a makeshift grave in Bass River State Park in New Jersey. (The couple who kidnapped and killed Reso, Arthur and Irene Seale, were later convicted and sentenced to prison.)

Five years ago: The Supreme Court threw out a key part of the Brady gun-control law, saying the federal government could not make local police decide whether people are fit to buy handguns. However, the court left intact the five-day waiting period for gun purchases.

One year ago: The United Nations concluded a three-day summit on HIV/AIDS after adopting a blueprint which set tough targets for reducing infection rates and called for protecting the rights of infected people. Actor Jack Lemmon died in Los Angeles at age 76.

We must all act now or much of this year's state budget shortfall may disproportionately affect the most vulnerable Californians - children, seniors and low-income wage earners. To protect crucial public services we have to look for new revenue sources.

Governor Davis has proposed reducing programs for low-income families by $2.6 billion. When lost federal funds are taken into account, this amount swells to $4.3 billion. Over 400,000 Californians would lose their medical coverage and over a million would be affected by such proposals as the elimination of some benefits which are not federally required, a reduction in the rates paid to health care providers, and cuts to safety-net hospitals.

The League of Women Voters together with a number of other groups believes that the best way to balance income and spending is to raise the rates for higher-income taxpayers. SB 1255(Burton) would raise the state's top personal income tax rate to 10 percent for joint filers with taxable incomes greater than $260,000; 11 percent, if greater than $520,000. These 2.4 percent of California's taxpayers are the same people who benefitted the most from the recent federal tax cuts. And once the director of finance certifies that the state has regained a prudent reserve, the tax increase would be repealed.

We urge you to join us in writing, calling or sending an e-mail to your representatives in the State Assembly and State Senate and to Governor Davis, to let them know that you prefer SB1255 rather than cutting funds for the most needy. The budget will probably not be passed until late June or early July, and significant changes may be made until it is signed by the Governor. There is not much time, but still enough for you to be heard.

Please call the League of Women Voters for further information or help at 843-8824 and leave word for one of us to call you back.

Cal freshman Jamal Sampson was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the second round of Wednesday’s NBA Draft.

Utah chose Sampson with the 47th overall pick. He was the third Pac-10 player in a row to be drafted, with Sam Clancy of USC going to the the Philadelphia 76ers with the 45th pick and UCLA’s Matt Barnes chosen by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 46th selection.

Sampson, a 6-foot-11, 235-pound forward/center, will not receive a guaranteed contract as a second-round selection. He left Cal after just one season, earning All-Freshman Pac-10 honors.

The NCAA sanctions follow penalties issued by the Pac-10 Conference that placed the team on conference probation for a year, ordered the program to adopt a compliance oversight plan and forced Cal to forfeit a 1999 victory against Arizona State University.

Cal Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl said in a prepared statement that the school plans to appeal the NCAA ruling. Berdahl said while the school accepted the conference sanctions, the new penalties are too harsh.

“In the case of the additional infractions, the NCAA-imposed penalties appear unduly excessive and that is why we have decided to appeal,” he said.

The NCAA infractions committee took the case seriously because it indicated a systematic breakdown of the proper practices to follow regarding infractions, said committee chair Tom Yeager.

The committee also considers Cal a repeat offender because the alleged violations occurred within five years of a previous major infractions case. Cal received the five-year probation because of its repeat-offender status.

Cal’s academic improprieties occurred in 1999 when a university professor awarded false academic credits to wide receivers Michael Ainsworth and Ronnie Davenport. The two players proceeded to play in the fall of 1999 without properly completing the minimum number of credits to remain eligible. The professor, Alex Saragoza, stepped down in 2001 when the violations became public, and the school and conference agreed to penalize the team four scholarships, along with the forfeit and a year of probation.

Additional violations were submitted by the school last year. Cal informed the NCAA of 34 players who received extra benefits while staying at hotels before games, ranging from 75 cents to more than $300. In addition, four football recruits on campus visits were found to have incurred hotel charges in violation with NCAA recruiting rules. Those violations occurred between 1997 and 2001.

All of the violations cited in the NCAA report occurred under former head coach Tom Holmoe, who resigned after a 1-10 2001 season. New head coach Jeff Tedford, hired in December, is dealing with serious sanctions before he coaches his first game at the school.

“I expected we would receive some additional penalty from the NCAA, although it is unfortunate that a new administration and coaching staff must bear the burden,” Tedford said. “Obviously, we would like to have a full complement of scholarships and no bowl restrictions this year. But I don’t expect this ruling to be and impediment for our football program reaching its ultimate goals.”

Yeager said the carryover of penalties to a coach and players uninvolved in the infractions is an unfortunate but necessary step to punishing the program.

“It’s a part of the consequence that applies to the institution,” he said. “There is always the possibility that students and coaches not involved will be affected.”

Cal Athletic Director Steve Gladstone, also a recent hire, condemned the previous administration for the sanctions while expressing surprise at the severity of the punishment.

“I particularly feel badly for our student-athletes on this year’s team, as they are being punished for violations that involved two individuals in the academic case and for hotel incidental infractions that would normally be considered minor violations by the NCAA,” Gladstone said. “If the athletic department had not been so careless and slow in acting upon the violations, there would have been no NCAA penalty at all. Instead, because of timing, these minor violations became major infractions in the minds of the NCAA.”

Although the recent jury verdict in the death penalty case of the People vs. DaVeggio and Michaud is understandable in light of the heinous actions of the defendants, it is still wrong.

You must remember the amount of power and the opportunity for example that you hold in the judicial system. Your glorification of the death penalty is not an example for the youth of our community because you only cheapen the value of life.

Is there a difference between judicial killing and personal killing? I think not. Living in a Judeo-Christian society, our principals are to save life and not to destroy it. Your action in glorifying killing by the death penalty is amoral and outside of civilized society. No one deserves to die by the hand of the district attorney or that of a deprived killer.

The United Nations Charter on Human Rights does not condone the death penalty. It does not deter crimes or reform the prosecuted. It merely continues the cycle of human violence.

PLEASANT HILL — Even with all Martin Yan’s spunk, the television chef whose “Yan Can Cook” show is broadcast in 70 countries says he just couldn’t feed everybody who wanted to try a bite of his tasty Asian concoctions — until now.

Yan’s first fast, casual restaurant opened this week, offering his recipes for everything from Thai curry to Korean barbecue. And he says it’s just the beginning. The energetic, sometimes zany master chef says he hopes his Yan Can restaurants will grow into a national chain.

Four other California restaurants already are in the works as part of the pilot project.

“Often times I go out and people always say, ’You know Martin, are you a good cook?’ And what can you say since they never can get a chance to taste the food I cook unless they come to the studio,” Yan said. “I decided maybe it’s time to open a restaurant so I can serve the food that I love, the food which I learned from all the masters and all the home cooks from all over Asia.”

The restaurants are being tested through a joint venture between Hong Kong-based Favorite Restaurants Group and Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc., the parent of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, A&W and Long John Silver’s.

But Yan said he didn’t just want his name slapped onto a sign and menu. Instead, he said he wanted to be involved with something in which he could take pride, so he assembled a team of top chefs to help open the restaurants and train employees to serve dishes from a variety of Asian countries.

He also served as a consultant for the restaurants’ design, which features an open grill and stoves allowing customers to watch their food being made. Traditional cooking utensils from all over Asia, such as bamboo steamers, rice bowls and decorative chopsticks, are displayed on the walls.

And, of course, Yan himself is featured prominently on a large television doing everything from chopping chicken in his kitchen to dressing in costumes and acting out battles on the Great Wall of China.

A native of Guangzhou, China, the 50-year-old chef grew up in his father’s restaurant and his mother’s cooking school. He moved to Hong Kong at 13 and lived in the restaurant where he worked. By 20, he was teaching cooking classes at the University of California, Davis, where he got undergraduate and master’s degrees in food science. He has since published two dozen cookbooks and hosted more than 2,000 TV shows.

“This is how they do it in Asia,” he said after cooking up a braised shrimp dish as flames shot up around the wok. “The restaurant is a theater. Just like Disney, we’re all cast members.”

School board raises will be on the November ballot, but City Council pay hikes will not.

The council voted 8-0 Tuesday, with one abstention, to place a measure on the ballot that would raise monthly pay for school board members from $875 to $1,500.

But Councilmember Dona Spring withdrew a proposal to raise council pay from the current $1,800 per month to an unspecified amount, effectively killing the issue this year.

Spring said she pulled the measure because it did not appear to have broad support on the council.

“This is not the right time,” said Councilmember Linda Maio, explaining her opposition.

Maio said the council should not ask for a raise while the city faces a $3 million deficit.

The council passed a new budget Tuesday to address the deficit, but an uncertain state budget and a series of expiring employee contracts may require adjustments in the fall.

Councilmember Miriam Hawley added that the city will be asking voters in November to provide money for renovation of old City Hall, an animal shelter, affordable housing and pedestrian safety, and should not ask for pay raises at the same time.

Mayor Shirley Dean said the city has to take a hard look at what it expects of councilmembers before passing any type of raise. Currently, she said, commitment to the job varies across the council.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he would have voted for Spring’s proposal if it had come up for a vote. But he said a majority of the overall board probably opposed it, forcing the withdrawal.

Even if the measure had narrowly passed, a contentious fight on the council over pay raises may have doomed the measure to defeat on the ballot, Worthington argued.

Spring said she pushed the pay raise to draw a broader field of candidates to City Council races.

“I wanted there to be more diversity,” she said, arguing that the board is largely composed of the well-off and retirees, who can afford to take a small salary.

The council received its last pay raise in 1998.

Spring said the council voted to put the school board raise on the ballot because members had not received a pay hike since 1988, when salaries jumped from $300 to $875 per month.

Worthington said he voted for the measure to encourage greater diversity on the board.

“I think that we don’t want being in public office to only be possible for people who are rich,” he said. “Someone who’s raising children and paying a mortgage and paying for child care can’t afford to serve on the school board.”

Critics say the $1,500 per month salary is still not enough to attract lower-income candidates.

“It is a modest amount, but it adds up to $18,000 per year,” Worthington said, arguing that a school board member could work another job half-time and make a living.

Two weeks ago, the school board voted 4-1 to request the pay raise, sending the matter to the City Council for formal approval. School board President Shirley Issel was the lone dissenter.

Issel, as president, thanked the council for approving the request of the board majority. But she said the timing of the ballot measure is inappropriate, given that the district faces a $2.8 million deficit next year and is engaged in heavy layoffs.

“Both the district and the city are facing deficits and people are concerned about the timing and I understand that,” replied board member John Selawsky, who is leading the push for raises. “On the other hand, it’s been fourteen years since the last adjustment in board pay.”

School board salaries actually come out of city coffers, and a raise would not effect the district’s deficit. But Issel argued that most voters probably don’t know the source of board salaries.

“I think that will be quite a lot to expect, that this will be broadly understood,” Issel said.

Selawsky said board members could choose to divert their raises to pay for a staff member or multiple staffers to return phone calls and conduct research. The board currently has no designated staff.

But board member Ted Schultz, while he supports the general concept of a raise, said there is not enough money involved to draw ample, qualified staff.

“I don’t see any carrot there,” he said.

Selawsky argued that the board could hire interns, providing small stipends. He said the interns might come from UC Berkeley and work twenty or thirty hours a week.

Selawsky said he does not intend to wage a major campaign on the issues, arguing that there are more pressing concerns. But he said he is glad the issue is on the ballot.

“I’m pleased, and I think it’s now where it belongs: in the hands of the voters,” he said.

LOS ANGELES — Propped up in a darkened room and illuminated at an oblique angle, the flat rectangle of pewter reluctantly reveals the scene it has faithfully held for 176 years.

“You have to dance around it to get a good view,” Dusan Stulik, a senior scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute, said as he hovered nearby.

You do, and the plate flashes gold before going dark. A step forward, one back and somewhere in between an image emerges. A farm building. Pear and poplar trees. A dovecote.

Together, the objects appear just as they did to Joseph Nicephore Niepce (pronounced Nee’-sah-for Nee’-yeps) in 1826, when the Frenchman created what is acknowledged as the world’s first photograph.

“All of the history of photography, the history of film, the history of television, if you go back, this is where all those histories unite,” Stulik said of the faint image.

Since the photograph arrived on June 14 at the Getty, experts have begun the first scientific study of the image since it was rediscovered and authenticated in 1952.

“This is the first time we have done any analysis. This is an opportunity to really see it for the first time since it was done,” said Roy Flukinger, a senior curator at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which acquired the image in 1963.

The analysis is part of a joint photo conservation project with the Getty, the Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology and France’s Centre de Recherches sur la Conservation des Documents Graphiques.

Over the last week, scientists have pored over the 8-inch-by-6.5-inch photograph with advanced scientific instruments and assessed its state of preservation, which is generally good.

Experts will repair its original frame and build a new airtight case for it. They have also photographed the image, which is difficult given its faintness.

The new images include the limited corrosion and three dimples that mar the photo’s surface. Previous reproductions were little more than retouched mosaics of various images made in the 1950s.

“It’s coming to life as a photograph. Before, it had always been an object,” said James Reilly, director of the Image Permanence Institute.

Study results are preliminary but confirm accounts that Niepce used a polished plate of pewter, just one-sixteenth of an inch thick, coated with a thin layer of bitumen to create the image.

During an exposure made over as many as three days, the light-sensitive petroleum derivative hardened. Washing the plate with a mixture of oil of lavender and white petroleum dissolved the unexposed portions of bitumen.

Niepce called the permanently fixed, direct positive picture — the first ever captured from nature — a “heliograph.” He had previously used the technique to copy engraved images; one such reproduction, made in 1825, sold at a March auction in Paris for $443,220.

The original image returns to Austin on July 1 and will be back on display in spring 2003.

Reilly said the study should restore Niepce to his place as the father of photography. He has frequently been overshadowed by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre — of daguerreotype fame — with whom he formed a short-lived partnership.

“This process is going to rewrite photographic history by fleshing out Niepce’s contribution,” Reilly said.

Wearing bright blue jackets, patrol radios and cheerful smiles, the Berkeley Guides do more than just walk up and down Shattuck Avenue. The four-member team, working in connection with the Berkeley Police Department, patrol the busy downtown merchant sector of Shattuck Avenue Tuesday through Saturday.

As one of their basic functions, the guides maintain contact with local stores and street vendors, assisting them with customer complaints and contacting police when necessary. In addition, the guides provide citizens and downtown visitors with directions, maps and information.

According to many local merchants, the guides provide an essential service. “They really helped diffuse a bad situation the other day,” said Mostafa Hallaji of Newberry’s Gifts. “We had a customer that was upset about a pager that she bought. One of them took her outside and calmed her down and the other one came and talked to me.”

Despite their helpful presence downtown and a strong reaction from merchants and city officials, the Berkeley Guides patrol program faces an uncertain future due to budget constraints. Founded in 1995 as a part of Measure O, the program originally staffed nine members and ran Monday through Saturday day and night along the Avenue.

According to Ove Wittstock, director of Berkeley Guides, the program is asking for $30,000 in additional city funding to meet rising costs, including increased medical and workers compensation fees.

Wittstock says that the program hopes members of downtown’s merchant community will help support the guides. As a former Berkeley merchant himself, Wittstock understands the importance of safety in downtown.

“We hope to take this to the people who have a stake in this, the merchants and the school district, to have them place an economic value on what these guys do on a daily basis,” said David Manson, Executive Director of the Berkeley Boosters, the parent organization of Berkeley Guides.

Deborah Badhia, Executive Director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, says that the guide program is one piece of a complicated puzzle of policy, presence and enforcement in the downtown area. “The guides are a piece of the puzzle as are police and as is policy,” Badhia said. She says that additional resources such as the mobile crisis team and homeless centers are also necessary parts of keeping downtown safe for everyone.

According to Roy Meisner, Deputy Chief of the Berkeley Police Department, the guides provide the city with an important service. "They're ambassadors for the city and for the people who shop and eat in downtown. The other part is that they're able to answer questions and give directions to places like UC. They've been a big boost," Meisner said. "They're the ones that hear about all of the things going on down there and they let us know if there's a problem."

For many the guides provide a link between the community and the police. Guides Lashawn Nolen and Jay Elliot have each served Berkeley for several years and have built relationships and trust with both citizens and the police department. For those who might not be willing to speak directly to a police officer about a problem, the guides are there.

"People don't feel that threat. We're in between. They know we're not cops but we still have jobs to do,” said Berkeley Guide John Lara. According to Lara, problems on the street can often be resolved with a bit of patience and friendly advice from a guide. Lara says that the guides are able to deal with situations, such disputes between customers and local vendors that police officers do not always have time for.

Though some have criticized the Berkeley Guides program for not doing enough to eradicate the homeless problem downtown, others say that citizens must realize the limits of the program. “It’s important for people to understand what they can do and what they cannot do,” Badhia said. “The guides aren’t police officers.”

Despite the fact that the guides are trained to handle numerous problem situations including natural disasters, animal control and parking backups, they are not able to detain individuals involved in violent crimes.

When a violent crime does take place, the guides radio the police and often monitor the situation or follow a suspect from a safe distance. After hearing a report on his patrol radio recently, Lara was able to spot and follow an armed robbery suspect to the downtown BART station where he called police. According to Lara, the suspect was arrested shortly after contacting the police.

Along with the Berkeley Guides, the Boosters also operate a winter BART escort program and provide supervision of after-school programs at three local middle schools.

The guides program was established in reaction to the wave of violent crime in Berkeley and Oakland that followed the Rodney King verdict in the early 1990s.

LOS ANGELES — Details on late director Stanley Kubrick’s unfulfilled plans to make a movie about Napoleon will be published in a book next year, his family said.

His wife, Christiane, and her brother Jan Harlan, the director’s executive producer, are assembling the book “Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon — His Greatest Film Never Made,” The Hollywood Reporter reported Tuesday.

“Napoleon interested Stanley very much because here was a man with a huge talent and tremendous charisma who in the end failed only because of his emotions and vanity,” Harlan said.

Kubrick, who died in March 1999, was obsessed with the project for 30 years, collecting a library of about 18,000 books about the French leader and studying minute details of the subject’s life.

Kubrick’s film would have chronicled Napoleon from birth to death, Harlan said, and the director assembled a script and thousands of location photographs while preparing for the film as a follow-up to his 1968 sci-fi epic ”2001: A Space Odyssey.”

But the 1970 film “Waterloo,” which starred Rod Steiger as Napoleon in the days before the title battle, flopped at the box office and Kubrick was never able to get funding for his story.

SAN DIEGO — The city crossed the line separating church and state when it sold a 43-foot-tall cross to a memorial association, a federal court ruled Wednesday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the city of San Diego rigged the sale of the cross on a city-owned war memorial at Mount Soledad so that only groups wanting to keep the cross could buy it.

The 7-4 decision that the sale violated the California Constitution reversed a three-judge 9th Circuit panel, which in August approved the sale of the cross.

The appeals court released the ruling on the same day that it declared that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because it contains the words “under God.” (See stories on page 10)

The cross controversy arose more than a decade ago, when a federal judge ruled the city was violating the Constitution by owning land with a Christian symbol.

Acting on a lawsuit from Vietnam veteran Philip Paulson, the judge ordered the city to sell the cross. Paulson, a San Diego atheist who objected to using the Christian symbol as part of a war memorial, accused the city of violating the constitutional separation of church and state.

The cross sits inside the 170-acre Mount Soledad Natural Park on a hillside overlooking the city’s upscale La Jolla neighborhood. Paulson and opponents have asserted that the city’s sale of the cross and a tiny piece of the park created an illegal endorsement of religion. Supporters said the towering white cross is now a memorial to war veterans.

In 1998, the city sold the cross and a half-acre of surrounding land for $106,000 to the nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association, the highest bidder and the same agency that has maintained the cross since 1952 when it was city owned.

Paulson and his attorneys claimed that the bidding process for the land was flawed, charging that the city’s requirements for the purchase tended to favor the memorial association or others with plans to retain the cross.

Paulson on Wednesday directed questions to the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The deck was stacked in favor of preserving the cross from the very beginning,” said one of Paulson’s lawyers, Jordan Budd of ACLU. “It is past time for the city to quit evading its constitutional duty and end its entanglement with the Soledad cross.

The appellate court sent the case back to San Diego and left it to the parties involved and a federal judge to remedy the violations of the state’s Constitution.

San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn said the appellate court based its decision on an area of California Constitution that the ACLU didn’t raise at a hearing in March. Gwinn said the city was mulling a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“This case has been ongoing for the past 13 years,” he said. “It’s not likely to end anytime soon.”

San Diego voters in 1992 passed Proposition F, which allowed the sale of the city property. The city initially sold the cross and 222 square feet of land to the memorial association. But a federal judge ruled that the sale required a bidding process and that more land had to be sold.

The city then began accepting bids from nonprofit organizations for the cross and a half-acre parcel on the condition that any symbol could be used as long as it honored war veterans.

SAN JOSE — Despite the high-tech meltdown of the past two years, Silicon Valley residents continue to generously give to charities, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report, based on a poll by Field Research Corp. and commissioned by Community Foundation Silicon Valley, found that 78 percent of households in the area said they have given money or property to a charity or nonprofit group this year.

That figure was 83 percent when Community Foundation did a similar study in 1998. But those who are giving are donating a higher percentage of their income — 3.3 percent, compared to 2.7 percent in 1998.

Perhaps most surprisingly, 83 percent of the 1,516 people surveyed said they are donating just as much or more than they did last year, said Chi Nguyen, a senior associate at Collaborative Economics, the private advisory firm that wrote the report.

“I think it’s a hopeful message that our community has stayed committed even through the difficult year we’ve had economically,” she said.

She said the study should shatter the commonly held belief that high-tech workers are too busy or too self-involved to donate. The report said the average Silicon Valley household gives $2,300 to charity, well above the national average of $1,620.

Cutbacks by WorldCom, which already plans a massive reduction in capital spending, will trickle through its vendors and will likely have an impact far beyond those companies, analysts say.

“The WorldCom accounting scandal is pretty much the last thing the doctor could have ordered right now for telecom equipment stocks,” John Wilson, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a research note.

Networking gear suppliers have been sputtering since the telecom meltdown began with the collapse of the dot-coms in 2000.

The news has not improved since, as carriers cut back spending and as aggressive rollouts of networks led to overcapacity, falling prices and — in many cases — bankruptcy.

Even before Tuesday’s revelation that it disguised $3.8 billion in expenses over the last five quarters, WorldCom was struggling with $32 billion in debt, slowing revenues and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

Now, the nation’s No. 2 long distance company and a leading carrier of behind-the-scenes Internet traffic said it will only maintain its current network, not expand or upgrade it.

“There’s not going to be a whole lot of spending on gear there,” said Ryan Molloy, an analyst at SoundView Technology Group. “They’re just going to keep the network running.”

Juniper Networks Inc. is expected to be among the hardest hit. About 10 percent of the Sunnyvale-based company’s sales are from WorldCom’s purchases of its high-end routers and other equipment.

“I think 2003 would pose a serious problem because there’s an upgrade cycle that Juniper’s pinning their hopes on that wouldn’t materialize at WorldCom if things really tanked,” Molloy said.

Shares of Juniper lost $1.16, or more than 18 percent, to close at $5.13 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Networking gear leader Cisco Systems Inc. receives about 1 percent of its total revenue from WorldCom, he said. Cisco shares lost 2 cents to $13.43 in Nasdaq trading.

Nortel Networks Corp., a maker of equipment for optical networks, once had considerable business dealings with WorldCom — until all major long-haul voice and data carriers found themselves stuck with too much fiber in the ground and not enough customers.

“Nortel Networks has no material exposure to WorldCom, who is primarily an optical customer,” Nortel spokesman David Chamberlin said.

Still, Nortel shares lost 14 cents, or nearly 9 percent, at $1.47 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

More significantly, major long-distance carriers such as WorldCom have traditionally been more aggressive than regional phone companies in buying and implementing new technology, Molloy said.

“It’s the psychological impact of losing a customer that would be more willing to adopt a next-generation platform,” Molloy said. “If we lose one, it makes others less willing to spend and be more careful with their money. It’s kind of a domino effect.”

And not just telecom gear-makers are exposed. Computer services giant Electronic Data Systems Corp., for instance, runs data centers for WorldCom in a deal that brings EDS $600 million in annual revenue.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s currency fell to its lowest level since 2000 on Wednesday, ending a two-year stretch of unaccustomed strength that had some Mexicans calling it “the super peso.”

Some analysts said the fall of the U.S. dollar against other currencies may have hurt the peso, given Mexico’s dependence on the U.S. economy.

“We are seeing full correlation with the U.S. dollar decline against the euro,” said Dolores Garcia, currency analyst at local financial group BBVA-Bancomer.

In Mexico City, banking leader Banamex quoted the peso closing at a midrate of 10 per dollar, significantly weaker from 9.8850 at the close Tuesday. It began sliding from around 9 pesos per dollar in mid-April after the central bank eased its monetary policy.

Bank of Mexico Governor Guillermo Ortiz said on Tuesday that market turbulence in South America also has hit his country’s currency.

LOS ANGELES — Some groups have canceled their traditional fireworks extravaganzas and some have gone hunting for alternatives because it’s so hot, so dry and so dangerous in California this year.

Fireworks shows are still on at most big show sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities throughout California, authorities said. But some of the pyrotechnics designed for business celebrations, company picnics and promotional events have been scrapped.

Laser light show producers say calls about shows are 20 times higher than last year.

“Without a question, we’ve had 20 times more phone calls,” said Kevin Bilida, president of TLC Creative Special Effects, which specializes in pyrotechnic, laser light and other shows.

“Every single fireworks show that had a question mark — whether it was going to be perceived as dangerous — has been canceled. It’s not worth the liability,” he said.

San Bernardino County on Wednesday canceled annual fireworks shows in Lake Arrowhead and Lake Gregory.

“There’s nothing like a good fireworks show, but the alternative to having any threat to our forest is not acceptable,” Fire Marshal Peter Brierty said.

“A lot of standing dead trees are in our mountains, and if you have sparks raining down on them, it’s much more difficult to put out. It was a very, very difficult decision to make, but the pictures of Arizona tell the story,” he said, referring to a wildfire there that has burned more than 400,000 acres and destroyed nearly 400 homes.

Lake Arrowhead is looking at alternative events for the Fourth of July, including a laser light show and a carnival, Brierty said.

In Orange County’s Newport Beach, the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort has canceled its show, a 43-year tradition, because of increasing costs and the lack of liability insurance.

“The costs have been rising dramatically for several years,” Andrew Theodorou, general manager of the resort, told The Orange County Register.

While the high-powered lasers can be flammable, they are less likely to start fires than fireworks and their embers that may not burn out before they reach the ground.

“Your fire danger is way low obviously,” said David Lytle, editor of the Laserist, a magazine on the laser display industry. “I’ve never heard of a laser causing a fire — ever.”

Laser light show producers said most callers are worried about fire hazards. When they find out how much the laser shows cost, however, their worries are compounded.

“There have been a lot of inquiries, triple from last year,” said Ivan Dryer, president of Laser Images, Inc. in Los Angeles. “A lot of them don’t have the budget for laser shows; they thought they were cheaper than fireworks, but that’s not necessarily true.”

An extravagant, 20-minute laser light show — including graphics and aerial effects — can cost up to $12,000, while fireworks cost about $12,000 for a 20-minute show, Dryer said.

However, laser light shows are more of a do-it-yourself kind of spectacle, said Neville Hanchett, President of Mobolazer Inc. in Thousand Oaks who also sets up firework shows.

“It’s easier for people to do laser shows than firework shows,” he said. “There are more channels to go through for a fireworks show. You need a fire marshal on site. Lasers are like a free-for-all, you can buy your own system and make your own show.”

Hanchett also prefers the sensory appeal of fireworks.

“I would rather watch a fireworks show with the bang and the smoke instead of a light show,” Hanchett said. “You’re painting the sky with light, and although you can do a lot of cool things with beams, I never tire of seeing a good fireworks show.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Stunning politicians on both the left and right, a federal appeals court declared for the first time Wednesday that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because of the words “under God” inserted by Congress in 1954.

The ruling, if allowed to stand, would mean schoolchildren could no longer recite the pledge, at least in the nine Western states covered by the court.

Critics of the decision were flabbergasted and warned that it calls into question the use of “In God We Trust” on the nation’s currency, the public singing of patriotic songs like “God Bless America,” even the use of the phrase ”So help me God” when judges are sworn into office.

In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the phrase “one nation under God” amounts to a government endorsement of religion in violation of the separation of church and state.

Leading schoolchildren in a pledge that says the United States is “one nation under God” is as objectionable as making them say “we are a nation ‘under Jesus,’ a nation ‘under Vishnu,’ a nation ‘under Zeus,’ or a nation ‘under no god,’ because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion,” Circuit Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote.

In Canada, where President Bush was taking part in an economic summit, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: “The president’s reaction was that this ruling is ridiculous.”

“The Supreme Court itself begins each of its sessions with the phrase ‘God save the United States and this honorable court,”’ Fleischer said. “The Declaration of Independence refers to God or to the Creator four different times. Congress begins each session of the Congress each day with a prayer, and of course our currency says, ‘In God We Trust.’ The view of the White House is that this was a wrong decision and the Department Justice is now evaluating how to seek redress.”

The ruling was also attacked on Capitol Hill, with Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., calling it “just nuts.”

After the ruling, House members gathered on the front steps of the Capitol to recite the Pledge of Allegiance en masse — the same place they defiantly sang “God Bless America” the night of Sept. 11 attacks.

And senators, who were debating a defense bill, angrily stopped to unanimously pass a resolution denouncing the decision of a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The government had argued that the religious content of “one nation under God” is minimal. But the appeals court said that an atheist or a holder of certain non-Judeo-Christian beliefs could see it as an endorsement of monotheism.

The 9th Circuit covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state. Those are the only states directly affected by the ruling.

However, the ruling does not take effect for several months, to allow further appeals. The government can ask the court to reconsider, or take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Congress inserted “under God” at the height of the Cold War after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, religious leaders and others who wanted to distinguish the United States from what they regarded as godless communism.

The case was brought by Michael A. Newdow, a Sacramento atheist who objected because his second-grade daughter was required to recite the pledge at the Elk Grove school district. A federal judge had dismissed his lawsuit, which named the school district, Congress and then-President Clinton.

Newdow, a doctor who holds a law degree and represented himself, called the pledge a “religious idea that certain people don’t agree with.”

The appeals court said that when President Eisenhower signed the legislation inserting “under God” after the words “one nation,” he declared: “Millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.”

The appeals court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has said students cannot be compelled to recite the pledge. But even when the pledge is voluntary, “the school district is nonetheless conveying a message of state endorsement of a religious belief when it requires public school teachers to recite, and lead the recitation of, the current form of the pledge.”

The ruling was issued by Goodwin, who was appointed by President Nixon, and Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt, a Carter appointee.

In a dissent, Circuit Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez, appointed by the first President Bush, warned that under his colleagues’ theory of the Constitution, “we will soon find ourselves prohibited from using our album of patriotic songs in many public settings.”

”‘God Bless America’ and ‘America the Beautiful’ will be gone for sure,” he said, “and while use of the first and second stanzas of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ will still be permissible, we will be precluded from straying into the third.”

Fernandez said the same faulty logic would apply to “In God We Trust” on the nation’s currency.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., was one of many lawmakers who immediately reacted in anger and shock to the ruling.

“Our Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves. This is the worst kind of political correctness run amok,” Bond said. “What’s next? Will the courts now strip ’so help me God’ from the pledge taken by new presidents?”

The 9th Circuit is the nation’s most overturned appellate court — partly because it is the largest, but also because it tends to make liberal, activist opinions, and because the cases it hears — on a range of issues from environmental laws to property rights to civil rights — tend to challenge the status quo.

The nation’s high court has never squarely addressed the issue, Tribe said. The court has said schools can require teachers to lead the pledge but ruled students cannot be punished for refusing to recite it.

In other school-related religious cases, the high court has said that schools cannot post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

And in March, a federal appeals court ruled that Ohio’s motto, “With God, all things are possible,” is constitutional and is not an endorsement of Christianity even though it quotes the words of Jesus.

BALTIMORE — A court ruling the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional was no surprise to an expert on the patriotic promise.

John Baer, author of “The Pledge of Allegiance: A Centennial History 1892-1992,” said the pledge has been modified over the years.

“About every 40 years, the wording of the pledge is changed,” the Annapolis man said Wednesday. “It’s about time for another change to take place in the pledge. It’s a living document.”

Baer said the current pledge and the practice of reciting it with hand over heart is nothing like the original author intended.

Until 1942, for example, a straight arm salute resembling the Nazi salute was used, Baer said.

Baer, 71, credits the Rev. Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, with authorship of the original pledge in 1892. Bellamy’s pledge omitted any country’s name or religious reference.

His original pledge read:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Baer, a former economics professor, said Bellamy intended his words to be a peace pledge.

“He saw an international side to this thing,” Baer said.

Baer wrote that the words “my flag” were changed to “the flag of the United States of America” in 1924 at the National Flag Conference under the leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Bellamy, who died in 1931, disliked the change, Baer wrote, but his protest was ignored.

In 1954, Congress added the words “under God” to the pledge after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus.

Bellamy’s granddaughter said Bellamy also would have resented that change — especially after he was forced to leave his church in 1891 because of his socialist sermons, Baer wrote.

The “under God” phrase is what the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found unconstitutional on Wednesday, saying it violates separation of church and state.

The Pledge of Allegiance, attributed to socialist editor and clergyman Francis Bellamy, was first published in 1892 in The Youth’s Companion, a children’s magazine where he worked.

The pledge was meant to echo the sentiments and ideals of Bellamy’s cousin, Edward Bellamy, an author of “Looking Backward” and other socialist utopian novels, according to pledge expert John Baer.

Bellamy crafted it as a resonating oration to bolster the idea that the middle class could fashion a planned political and social economy, equitable for all, Baer said.

After a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison, the pledge was first used on Oct. 12, 1892 in public schools during Columbus Day observances throughout the nation.

The original wording was: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

There were those who claimed The Youth’s Companion editor James B. Upham penned the famous pledge, but the U.S. Flag Association ruled in 1939 to recognize Bellamy was the author.

The pledge has been changed a few times since. For Flag Day in 1924, “the flag of the United States of America” was officially adopted as a substitution for the phrase “my flag.”

In 1954, the words “under God” were added, after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s service organization, and other religious leaders who sermonized that the pledge needed to be distinguished from similar orations used by “godless communists.”

The prospect of atomic war between world superpowers so moved President Dwight D. Eisenhower that he directed Congress to add the two small but controversial words.

SAN DIEGO — In halting and heavily-accented English, a former Soviet spy recounted Wednesday how she became an FBI informant in a murder-for-hire case.

Svetlana Ogorodnikova this week is testifying as a key government witness, seven years after her release from prison. She was convicted of seducing a Los Angeles FBI agent into selling a confidential document to the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

After serving half her 18-year sentence, Ogorodnikova was released and spent several years fighting deportation from the United States — an effort she gave up by moving to Tijuana, Mexico, with a convicted drug trafficker she met and married in prison.

Ogorodnikova returned illegally to Southern California in 1999 and moved with her husband to a ranch in Fallbrook. The ranch was owned by Kimberly Bailey, who is now on trial in federal court on charges of having a San Diego private investigator tortured and murdered in an abandoned house in Tijuana.

Bailey repeatedly asked Ogorodnikova if she could hire a hitman to kill witnesses and others involved in the murder of the private investigator, Richard Post, the Russian woman testified.

“I became very scared,” said the former spy, dressed in a dark blue suit, her hair cut short. “I think maybe she’d forget, maybe she’s not serious.”

Bailey is accused of having Post kidnapped, tortured over five days in Tijuana, and then murdered because she believed he cheated on her with other women and stole money from her.

Bailey has pleaded innocent to conspiracy to murder a person in a foreign country and other charges. Through her lawyer, she has insisted that Post is alive and in hiding.

FBI agents who had the Fallbrook ranch under surveillance approached Ogorodnikova, who agreed to covertly tape conversations over the phone and in person with Bailey.

The Russian woman, according to the tapes, set up a meeting in the Mandalay Bay casino between an FBI agent posing as a hitman and Bailey, who allegedly wanted to have him kill several people involved with Post’s slaying.

In their conversations, Ogorodnikova said she and Bailey developed a code. Examples included “brother” or “lawyer” to mean hitman and “investigation” to refer to murder. “It was like a spy movie, like in James Bond,” she testified.

Bailey’s defense attorney, Philip DeMassa, said he hoped to use Ogorodnikova’s past to convince jurors that she is not a reliable witness.

“She’s an experienced KGB agent and she’s lying about everything,” he said outside the federal courtroom.

Ogorodnikova pleaded guilty to espionage charges in 1985, after she admitted seducing Richard Miller, the first FBI agent charged with espionage.

The former Soviet spy had no trouble slipping back into the United States when a friend drove her across the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, where inspectors failed to check Ogorodnikova’s background, according to her husband, Bruce Perlowin.

SACRAMENTO (AP) — A national business-turned-education strategy could be the latest school experiment in California if a bill moving through the legislature is successful.

The bill, authored by Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz, was approved by the Assembly Committee on Education on Wednesday.

The measure would establish a three-year $3-million pilot program in nine districts across the state that would bring Baldrige business strategies and principles into the classroom.

The Baldrige business model — named after the late Malcolm Baldrige, former commerce secretary in the Reagan administration — was designed in 1987 and expanded to education in the mid-1990s.

The program focuses on streamlining classroom activities so that more time is focused on learning. It also sets up individual goals for every student as well as for whole classrooms. Teachers are required to monitor each student’s progress daily.

Students in the program typically score between 10 and 14 points higher on the SAT-9, the statewide tests taken annually by kids in grades two through 11, according to the California Center for Baldrige in Education.

“It’s a proven success story in many states like Alaska, Florida and Texas,” McPherson said. “It’s a goal-oriented program in which students establish a daily portfolio so they can track their own progress.”

McPherson said the program promotes a healthy level of competition between the students, but it also encourages the students to work together to obtain their common classroom goals. Students decide how they want to be rewarded for reaching their goals.

Ruth Miller, executive director of the California Center for Baldrige in Education, said that although the program is already being used in Santa Cruz, Long Beach and Santa Clara, the pilot program is needed so that “the state can move forward as a whole.”

“Everybody can use the same approach, talk the same language and be on the same page,” she said.

SACRAMENTO — A bill that would impose strict eligibility requirements on members of the State Board of Education, which is now largely comprised of business leaders and former politicians, passed the Senate Education Committee Wednesday.

The measure by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-Los Angeles, seeks to diversify the board by adding members experienced in teaching students with limited English skills. If it becomes law, it would require at least two of the 11 members to be familiar with teaching students who speak little or no English.

The Senate Education Committee approved the bill on Wednesday, sending it to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Although Education Committee Chairman John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, called the bill “a remarkably good idea,” other committee members said Firebaugh is a “dreamer.”

“I think the possibility of getting this signed by the governor is not (very) high,” said Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena.

AB2363 would set up specific criteria for members of the governor-appointed board. Currently, there are no formal requirements that candidates must meet to fill 10 of the positions. The last position, which is a one-year term, must be held by a 12th-grade student at a public school.

The measure would require the governor to appoint two parents with children in public schools, one public school administrator from a low-performing school, one school board member, three public school teachers and one school employee. Two of the positions would remain open to the general public, while the last position would be reserved for a student.

The board now includes the former mayors of San Jose and Beverly Hills and the assistant executive director of California’s largest teachers union. High-ranking business executives also sit on the board, including officials of NetFlix.com, Gap Inc. and the former CEO of OneNetNow.com.

LOS ANGELES — Of all the members of Charles Manson’s murderous “family,” Leslie Van Houten was always seen as the different one — the youngest, the one most vulnerable to Manson’s diabolical control.

Now she hopes to be the first member of the cult involved in the 1969 Tate-La Bianca killings to get out on parole.

On Friday — nearly 33 years since the slaughter of actress Sharon Tate and six others shocked the nation — Van Houten, 52, goes before the state parole board for the 14th time. This time, she might have a chance.

The reason: Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Bob N. Krug strongly admonished the board for flatly turning Van Houten down every time based solely on the crime. Such decisions, he said, ignore Van Houten’s accomplishments in prison and turn her life sentence into life without parole, in violation of the law.

In addition, Krug said that Van Houten had successfully completed every rehabilitation program offered in prison and that her psychiatric evaluations “clearly indicate that she is not a present danger to society and should be found suitable for parole.”

Van Houten was a 19-year-old Manson disciple in the summer of 1969 when she participated in the stabbing deaths of grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca in their home. Van Houten was not present the night before when Tate and four others were slain at the actress’ Beverly Hills mansion.

Van Houten, Manson, his chief lieutenant Charles “Tex” Watson, and two other women, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkle, were convicted and sentenced to death for their part in the Tate-La Bianca murders. The sentences were later commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in the 1970s. All five are still behind bars.

Van Houten’s initial conviction was overturned on the grounds that she received an inadequate defense; her lawyer disappeared and was found dead during her trial, and she was assigned a replacement. Her second trial ended in a hung jury. A third trial ended in a conviction.

Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay will be arguing against Van Houten’s parole for the 14th time.

“This is not a garden-variety murder case and it should not be treated as such,” he said. “I commend her for her good acts in prison and she appears to be a model prisoner. I think she should spend the rest of her life being a model prisoner. I feel because of what she did, she is not entitled to parole.”

In light of the judge’s ruling, however, Van Houten can take her case to court if she is denied parole again.

Van Houten’s lawyer, Christie Webb, said she has shown remorse and has been rehabilitated. Van Houten went through alcohol and drug rehab, group therapy and psychotherapy. She also obtained a college degree in literature and has helped run drug and alcohol programs for other women.

Webb said Manson’s influence on Van Houten was powerful.

“She was the youngest. She was vulnerable and she was controlled by drugs and clever manipulation,” Webb said. “All that LSD changed the chemistry of her brain.”

The lawyer added: “I certainly have sympathy for the victims’ families. But Leslie and her family are also among Charles Manson’s victims. We are talking about one horrible night of violence in her life when she was clearly not in her right mind.”

NEW YORK — Shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. tumbled almost 24 percent Wednesday, fueled by reports that the style maven may face a wider probe into alleged insider trading.

The widening investigation was reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal, which cited a person familiar with the case and said possible charges could include obstruction of justice and making false statements.

The Journal also reported that an assistant to Stewart’s stockbroker had changed his initial version of her Dec. 27 sale of shares of ImClone Systems Inc.

Shares of Stewart’s multimedia company fell $3.20 to close at $10.40 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen about 45 percent since news broke this month that Stewart’s sale of stock in the biotech company was under scrutiny in an insider trading investigation.

At issue is whether Stewart misled prosecutors in explaining why she sold almost 4,000 shares of ImClone a day before the Food and Drug Administration announced it would not consider Erbitux, ImClone’s experimental cancer drug.

Stewart is a friend of former ImClone CEO Sam Waksal, who was arrested two weeks ago on charges of insider trading for allegedly trying to sell his stock and tipping off family members after learning of the impending FDA decision.

The Journal said sales assistant Douglas Faneuil acknowledged that he misled his brokerage firm’s lawyers and the Securities and Exchange Commission when he supported the claim that Stewart and her stockbroker had a prearranged sales agreement to dump the shares when they fell below $60. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter.

The stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, also is the broker for Waksal and his daughter Aliza.

In repeated public statements, Stewart has pinned her innocence to the existence of this agreement, which she said was done verbally. She has insisted the trade was lawful and done based on public information.

A call Wednesday by The Associated Press to Stewart’s publicist was not returned.

In an appearance Tuesday on CBS’ “The Early Show,” Stewart said: “I think this will all be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated.”

According to the Journal report, Faneuil said he created his story after being pressured by Bacanovic, and now says he was unaware of the agreement.

Faneuil is expected to be interviewed by representatives of the U.S. attorney’s office in New York, the newspaper said.

Merrill Lynch announced last week that it had put Bacanovic and Faneuil on paid leave, following an internal investigation, citing discrepancies in their accounts.

Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, also declined to comment. Neither Tim Cobb, a spokesman for Merrill Lynch, nor Marc Powers, the attorney for Faneuil, immediately returned calls.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Two days after being convicted of corruption, Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. announced Wednesday he will not seek re-election to a fourth straight term in November.

“It’s time for me to move on,” he said at City Hall. “It’s been a great ride. It’s been a great experience.”

The 61-year-old Cianci — a charismatic and beloved figure in Providence, even after he was indicted — announced his decision even as he held out hope a federal judge would reverse his racketeering conspiracy conviction next week.

Cianci was found guilty of turning City Hall into a den of thieves at the same time he was bringing about Providence’s revitalization over the past 12 years.

HARTFORD, Conn. — The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that small companies can fire pregnant employees without violating the state’s ban on gender discrimination.

The court ruled in a 3-2 vote that a 1967 law exempts businesses that have fewer than three workers.

“This state’s public policy against sex discrimination by private employers is not absolute,” Justice Richard Palmer wrote for the majority. “The legislature has carved out an exception to that policy for small employers.”

The case involved Nicole Thibodeau, who was fired in 1998 by her employer, Design Group One, a tiny architectural firm in Chester. Her attorneys argued the firm violated her rights under the state Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on gender.

The court’s decision is “very upsetting,” her attorney, Elaine Rubinson said. “I never thought they would do that,” she said.

Rubinson said her client may appeal to the federal courts or state lawmakers.

Michael O’Connell, a lawyer for Design One, said: “We don’t just willy-nilly change it on a whim because of a particular case.”

The Connecticut Civil Liberties Union had said upholding her firing would leave tens of thousands of workers at small businesses in Connecticut without legal protection from discrimination.

In the dissent, Justice Christine Vertefeuille wrote that because of the ruling “it is the public policy of this state to permit small employers to discriminate against their employees on the basis of sex.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo.— A man was convicted of participating in a scheme to offer $1.5 million in bribes to Costa Rican politicians and government officials in exchange for land concessions in a Caribbean development project.

A federal court jury on Monday found Robert Richard King, 68, guilty of one count of conspiracy and four counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

King’s lawyer said he would appeal.

Prosecutors alleged King conspired with Owl Securities & Investment, a Kansas City company in which he owned stock, to bribe Costa Rican officials. The quid pro quo was a land concession of 50 square miles on the Caribbean coast, according to secret recordings made by former Owl president Stephen Kingsley at the request of the FBI.

Owl Securities had won the right to finance and develop port and resort facilities at Limon, on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

A second defendant, Pablo Barquero Hernandez of Costa Rica, is a fugitive. Two officers of Owl Securities, Albert Reitz and Richard Halford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and await sentencing.

King is free on bail and no sentencing date was set. Philip Urofsky, the Justice Department’s senior counsel for international litigation, said he believed King could get three to five years in prison.

DENVER — Parents of minors have no right to sign liability waivers for their children, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, clearing the way for children to sue ski resorts for negligence once they turn 18.

In a case that could affect the state’s entire recreation industry, the court said its Monday ruling was based a 1978 law and other statutes that give broad rights to children to file lawsuits once they reach majority age.

The justices overturned a lower-court ruling that would have barred lawsuits if a parent had signed a form acknowledging a sport’s risk and waiving the right to sue in case of an accident.

“If this had been affirmed, the doors to the courthouse would be locked,” said attorney Jim Chalat, who specializes in recreation accident cases.

“This will make skiing and all other sports in Colorado safer for children. It doesn’t mean large awards,” he said, noting that such negligence lawsuits are rare.

The Aspen Skiing Co., a defendant in the case, did not return a call seeking comment.

The decision stems from the case of David Cooper, who was 17 when he was training on a ski race course and crashed into a tree, suffering injuries including blindness

Both he and his mother had signed a release. The trial court found that his mother’s signature bound him to the terms of the agreement, barring his claims against defendants that also included the Aspen Valley Ski Club and the U.S. Ski Association.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling.

The state Supreme Court said Colorado law affords minors significant protections that preclude a parent or guardian from releasing a minor’s own claims for negligence.

While the case involved a ski company, attorneys said it would also apply to horseback riding, rafting, mountain climbing and any other sport involving children.

HOUSTON — Playboy’s “Women of Enron” reveal much more than shady accounting in a 10-page pictorial that hits newsstands Friday.

Ten past and present Enron women shed their threads for the Chicago-based adult magazine’s August issue, though some showed more of the naked truth than others.

“I was always the one who broke the rules,” said Shari Daughtery, a graduate of Fort Bend Baptist Academy in suburban Houston who still works as an information technology administrator at Enron’s 50-story downtown headquarters.

“My mom always said as long as everything is covered, it’s fine,” said the 22-year-old Daughtery, who has modeled before. She didn’t follow that advice when she posed wearing only shoes and a belly chain atop Enron’s parking garage, with its two glass towers in the background.

Daughtery was among 300 women who answered Playboy’s March invitation to pose. She joined three others Tuesday to discuss their experiences.

They said they posed for the fun of it and to earn some money — though none of them would say how much the magazine paid them.

“It’s privileged information, but it was substantial,” said Janine Howard, 39, who was laid off from her job selling energy for defunct Enron Energy Services. “They were very, very generous.”

Daughtery and Taria Reed, a 31-year-old database coordinator, survived December’s layoffs that left more than 5,000 employees jobless when Enron filed the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The former No. 7 company on the Fortune 500 imploded last year in a storm of hidden debt and inflated profits. Employees and retirees saw 401(k) accounts loaded with Enron stock evaporate when shares became worthless after trading at an all-time high of near $90 in August 2000.

None of the four models who spoke Tuesday said they suffered the kind of financial losses that devastated others who depended on stock for retirement or their children’s college funds.

Reed said she sold her Enron stock before shares began tumbling exponentially last fall because she needed the money. Daughtery said she made sure her 401(k) was diversified so her losses were minimal, and Howard had shut down her portfolio.

Courtnie Parker, 27, who was laid off as an Enron recruiter last December, said she’d only worked there a year, so her losses were small.

Parker was the only model to avoid frontal nudity in the pictorial because she didn’t want to offend her grandparents.

The women voiced no bitterness toward the company or its executives, though Howard said Kenneth Lay, former chairman and chief executive, should have known his company was in jeopardy.

“He needs a heart,” she said. “Get awake and find out what’s happening in your company. We knocked the market out.”

Opinion

Editorials

Forty years ago, on July 3, 1962, Algeria became independent after 132 years of French rule.

On this date:

In 1608, the city of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain.

In 1775, Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass.

In 1863, the three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg ended in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated.

In 1890, Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union.

In 1898, the U.S. Navy defeated a Spanish fleet in the harbor at Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War.

In 1930, Congress created the U.S. Veterans Administration.

In 1971, singer Jim Morrison of The Doors died in Paris at age 27.

In 1986, President Reagan presided over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that included the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.

In 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

In 1996, Russians went to the polls to re-elect Boris Yeltsin president over his Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov, in a runoff.

Ten years ago: The president of Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, was voted out of office as lawmakers from Slovakia blocked his re-election in parliament.

Five years ago: In his first formal response to charges by Paula Jones of sexual harassment, President Clinton denied all allegations in her lawsuit, and asked a judge to dismiss the case. Lockheed Martin Corp. announced it was buying Northrop Grumman Corp. for $7.9 billion. (The merger fell apart when the Justice Department objected on antitrust grounds.)

One year ago: Flashing the defiance that marked his 13 years in power, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic refused to enter a plea on war crimes charges in his first appearance before a U.N. tribunal at The Hague. General Electric’s $41 billion purchase of Honeywell International was vetoed by the European Union. It was the first time a merger of two U.S. companies was stopped solely by European regulators.

Thought for Today: “The passionate belief in the superior worthwhileness of our children. It is stored up in us as a great battery charged by the accumulated instincts of uncounted generations.” — Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (1887-1948).

Native American prophesy holds that in every seventh generation the young will lead people to spiritual renewal.

This is a heavy burden to place on high school and college students, but Ras K’dee, a Pomo Indian attending San Francisco State University, said an increasing number of his peers are determined to turn an ambiguous legend into concrete achievement.

On Friday night, K’dee and several Northern California indigenous leaders presented the documentary film “Gold Greed and Genocide” to approximately 90 people at Pusod, a Berkeley Phillipino community center.

The screening is part of a larger effort by the International Indian Treaty Council to change California’s school curriculum to reflect what they insist is the true history of indigenous people during the Gold Rush.

The film was produced by Pratab Chaterjee of Project Underground, a nonprofit group that supports communities exploited by mineral, oil and gas mining. Lasting 28 minutes, the film provides indigenous elders a quick opportunity to tell their histories.

Although most schools no longer teach that settlers and indigenous people cooperated during their earliest encounters, the film’s accusations of bribery and murder of Native Americans by Gold Rush pioneers and California authorities have not received mainstream attention.

According to the film, the California government gave cash rewards for the murder of indigenous people. California officials participated in several massacres, including a 1850 attack at Bloody Island in which a village of Pomo Indians was murdered except for one six year-old girl who survived by hiding submerged in a lake and breathing through a hollowed-out reed.

After Native Americans had been defeated, the film says, populations were marched out of their ancestral lands, and in some cases boys and girls were taken from their parents to be socialized in boarding schools or sold to pioneers as slaves.

In addition to wanton murder and humiliation, the film states that the Gold Rush pioneers’ unregulated use of poison mercury, which was used to mine gold from iron ore, polluted the indigenous peoples’ land and water to a point that they could no longer subsist from traditional hunting and gathering.

According to the film, state-sponsored violence and pioneer-carried diseases such as small pox decimated Northern California’s indigenous population from 300,000 in 1850 to less than 10,000 in 1900.

Now that the documentary is complete, the treaty council is mounting a youth-based initiative, led by college-aged interns, to introduce the film and a corresponding middle school curriculum to California schools.

According to Samuel Heredia, the treaty council’s youth Program Coordinator, youth involvement in the project is essential “so that native youth and students can see the relevance of learning their own history.”

The film was shown to the California Indian Educators Conference. In addition, Heredia estimates that students in more than 20 California schools have seen the film, and approximately 80 state teachers pledged on a petition to incorporate the film and curriculum into their lesson plans.

For indigenous leaders such as Clayton Duncan, a Pomo Indian who participated in the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969, sharing history with indigenous children is vital to the preservation of their culture.

“I have lost confidence in my generation,” he told the audience, citing a recent survey that found just a slight majority of Pomo Indians claim to not care about the Bloody Island Massacre.

K’dee attributed the survey results to a generational split in which previous generations of indigenous people decided to be better off ignoring their history than embracing it.

He says that his generation is marked by a paradox: Increased media exposure, such as the Disney movie Pocahantas, has fostered a sense of pride and identity among his peers yet has brainwashed them into believing a falsely benign version of history.

But, he says, that misconception is changing. “When I go into schools and show the film, teachers and students can’t believe that the California state government funded over a million dollars for the murder of indigenous peoples,” he said.

K’dee and others affiliated with the treaty council hope that teachers can be swayed.

“Education is the first step,” said K’dee. “We don’t want this to happen again.”

SAN RAMON – The East Bay Regional Park District says it will be able to purchase a 196-acre ranch next to the Las Trampas Regional Preserve with a grant recently approved by the State Coastal Conservancy.

With the $438,000 grant approved by the conservancy Thursday and its own matching funds, the park district will buy the undeveloped land and add it to the San Ramon Valley preserve.

The property lies on the border of Alameda and Contra Costa counties south of Bollinger Canyon Road. It has been owned since the 1930s by the Mueller family, which is selling the land to the East Bay Regional Park District for almost $400,000 less than its appraised value, according to the conservancy.

A conservancy spokesman says the property contains oak woodlands, chaparral-covered hillsides, small ponds and over a half-mile of Bollinger Creek. Much of the property is known or likely habitat for endangered or threatened species such as the Alameda whipsnake and the California red-legged frog, as well as mountain lions, bobcats, eagles and rainbow trout, the spokesman says.

Man falls from building, dies OAKLAND – The Alameda County Coroner's Office says an autopsy will be conducted today on an 28-year-old Oakland man who died in a fall at a lumber yard in the 4000 block of Coliseum Way this morning.

Oakland police say that homicide detectives were notified about the 4:15 a.m. death, but are not investigating because it appears the death was accidental.

A coroner's spokesman says the man apparently died after jumping over a razor fence from the roof of a tin shed. He said it is unclear what the man was doing on the property, noting that he was not an employee of the lumber yard.

The victim's identity has not been released, pending notification of next of kin.

Fury over flags

SAN FRANCISCO — Ed Yee says he loves America for the opportunities it has given him and his family.

But now San Francisco’s public works department is pushing police to arrest him amid complaints by North Beach business owners that Yee is plastering Old Glory over their traditional Italian flags and decor.

Yee has spent years decorating North Beach — San Francisco’s Italian neighborhood — with American flags. He defends his actions as patriotic.

He ramped up his efforts after Sept. 11 and is now protesting the city’s effort to spruce up the area with more Italian flags to attract tourists.

Yee says public money should have been spent to add American flags rather than painting light poles and trash cans in red, white and green — the national colors of Italy.

Car wreck fuels fire

POINT REYES STATION – The Marin County Fire Department reports a four-vehicle accident east of Point Reyes Station Sunday sent six people to the hospital with serious injuries and sparked a small grass fire.

A fire department spokesman said the collision took place on Point Reyes-Petaluma Road near Platform Bridge Road at 2:15 p.m.

Two seriously injured patients were taken by helicopter to area hospitals, while two adults were taken to Marin General Hospital and two children to Kaiser Hospital in Terra Linda by ground ambulance.

While at the scene, emergency crews accidentally sparked a small grass fire with a traffic flare, but units at the scene controlled the fire before it grew beyond control.

On June 29, 1776, the Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry made governor.

On this date:

In 1767, the British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts, which imposed import duties on certain goods shipped to America. Colonists bitterly protested the Acts, which were repealed in 1770.

In 1946, British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to stamp out alleged terrorism.

In 1949, the government of South Africa enacted a ban against racially-mixed marriages.

Ten years ago: A divided Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion, but the justices also weakened the right as defined by the Roe v. Wade decision. The remains of Polish statesman Ignace Jan Paderewski, interred for five decades in the United States, were returned to his homeland in keeping with his wish to be buried only in a free Poland.

Five years ago: In Albania, gunmen menaced voters, burned ballots and pressured polling officials, marring parliamentary elections meant to steer the country toward recovery after months of chaos.

One year ago: Vice President Dick Cheney, experiencing heart problems for the third time since the November election, announced he was going back to the hospital, where he expected doctors to implant a pacemaker to even out a rapid heartbeat. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was elected to a second term.

Bowron told the New South Wales state District Court that he had been playing in a pool competition at the bar when he saw Lucock taping pork chops to his feet.

He claimed Lucock said he was using them for shoes after being told he would not be served more alcohol because he was barefoot. Lucock had won the meat as part of a raffle at the bar.

Bowron said the floor became greasy, and when he went to congratulate his pool opponent he slipped and fell onto his left arm.

Judge Anthony Puckeridge found Thursday that the bar and its owner breached their duty by failing to clean up the greasy trail.

The judge found Lucock was not responsible for Bowron’s injury, and dismissed the claim against him. Bowron was ordered to pay Lucock’s legal bills.

Fans with lamb-chop

sideburns honor Elvis

INDIANAPOLIS — A woman in Elvis earrings clasped her hands and wept while men with thinning pompadours and thick lamb-chop sideburns stood to the side, quietly remembering the King.

Fans held a ceremony Wednesday to dedicate a marker honoring Elvis Presley at the former site of Market Square Arena, 25 years to the day after the concert that would turn out to be his last. Presley died in 1977.

“People around the world know of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Market Square Arena just because Elvis was here,” said Kay Lipps, chairman of the Taking Care of Presley Memorial Committee. “Even though it has been 25 years, his music still touches people and makes them happy.”

The marker is in a gravel parking lot where the arena stood before being demolished last year. A time capsule encased within holds Presley memorabilia including a scarf he gave Lipps, letters from fans across the world, and a bootlegged recording of one of Elvis’ last shows.

A bronze plaque reading “Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building” sits atop a stone column, just as Elvis’ show announcer Al Dvorin would say at the end of each of Presley’s shows.

“His spirit lives on,” Dvorin said. “He could have started his own religion.”

Burglar snagged after

paying cabbie from a purse

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A man carrying four snakes, a sword, two cell phones and a purse hailed a cab after a home burglary, police said.

The driver became suspicious and alerted police after the man paid his fare from the purse, said St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa.

“Never mind that he had an aquarium with snakes and a 4-foot sword,” Kajtsa said.

Daniel Beckley, 24, of St. Petersburg, was charged Wednesday with armed residential burglary. Police said he robbed his former roommates — taking $200, the purse, phones, the decorative sword and four Sinaloan milk snakes.

The stolen items were returned Wednesday, minus the cab fare, police said.

The nonpoisonous red, white and black snakes are happy to be home, said owner Ryan C. George.

A man was stabbed to death Wednesday afternoon during a fight between him and another man on Haste Street near Telegraph Avenue in south Berkeley. The victim was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 5:45 p.m., a nursing supervisor for the hospital said.

The Berkeley Police Department was sparse on details immediately following the incident. “There was a fight between two males. One was stabbed. The other one is in jail,” said Lt. Bud Stone. “That’s all we know.”

Dozens of residents gathered on Haste Street behind police lines as investigators combed the scene. Large patches of blood were smeared on the sidewalk in front a UC Berkeley cooperative on the south side of the 2400 block of Haste Street.

According to investigators, the fight took place in the middle of the street about half a block from Telegraph Avenue and carried over to the sidewalk.

The death is the latest in a series of recent violent crimes in south and west Berkeley. Onlookers said after Wednesday’s incident that they do not always feel safe walking around south Berkeley, especially at night.

“I don’t feel safe anywhere past north Berkeley. The cutoff point is probably by Vine and Cedar Streets. Anything south of there I don’t feel safe,” said one Berkeley resident who wished to be identified only as Lilia.

According to a third-year UC Berkeley student who wished to be identified only as Will, safety is an issue there. “I still walk around at night by myself but some friends of mine told me that some people get mugged around here,” he said.

Violent crimes, though, are not that common in the neighborhood, said Alexander Salvador and Edgar Ramos of Berkeley’s First Presbyterian Church, located nearby on Haste Street.

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, Distict 7, said that Wednesday’s stabbing is part of rising crime rates not just in Berkeley but around the nation. “We’re concerned with the economy being down in the dumps that crime is on the rise. We have to reinvent some community involved policing to combat this issue,” he said.

SAN JOSE — During eBay’s rapid rise to Internet commerce powerhouse, the company nurtured a quaint tale of its origins, saying founder Pierre Omidyar created the site in 1995 so his fiancee could trade PEZ candy dispensers with other collectors.

It seemed to embody a seminal Silicon Valley moment as humble as the garage births of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple Computer Inc.

The story was so tied to eBay’s identity that chief executive Meg Whitman often was photographed with PEZ collections, and 121 dispensers are on display in the lobby at company headquarters.

Too bad the story isn’t true.

According to a new book on eBay, “The Perfect Store” by Adam Cohen, the PEZ myth was fabricated to interest reporters in the site in 1997.

The truth was merely that Omidyar had realized an auction-based marketplace would be a great use of the Internet. But Mary Lou Song, eBay’s first public-relations manager, discovered that the real story didn’t excite reporters.

After she heard Omidyar’s wife, Pam Wesley, say she had been having a tough time finding fellow PEZ collectors in Silicon Valley, Song decided to tell journalists that Omidyar had developed eBay to help Wesley’s PEZ woes. Omidyar gave his blessing, and the legend was born.

Etibles but acknowledged that the site wasn’t born that way.

“It has been slightly blown out of proportion,” Pursglove said.

Another aspect of eBay shrouded in the fog of recent history is the company name. Conventional wisdom around headquarters has been that “Bay” referred to a safe harbor for trading goods, or was a tribute to nearby San Francisco Bay, according to Pursglove.

The truth is not so elegant, according to Cohen’s book. Before starting AuctionWeb, the site that became eBay, Omidyar had a one-man consulting firm he called Echo Bay Technology Group because he thought the name sounded cool.

Columns

HONOLULU — Tia Carrere, born and raised in Honolulu, says her latest role is particularly special to her — even if she’s nowhere to be seen on screen.

Carrere provides the voice for Nani, the older sister in Disney’s new animated movie “Lilo & Stitch,” which is set on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

“I have this love for Hawaii and to be able to represent Hawaii — this is a big film and it’s all about Hawaii and ohana, ‘family’ — it’s the perfect fit,” said Carrere, 35.

Nani — who must be both sister and guardian to the mischievous Lilo — is a far cry from Carrere’s role as Sydney Fox, the Indiana Jones-like history professor in the syndicated TV series “Relic Hunter.”

“Lilo & Stitch” is the first animated film part for Carrere, whose roles have ranged from Mike Myers’ love interest in “Wayne’s World” to a secret agent opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in “True Lies.”

She also has agreed to voice Nani for an animated TV series based on the movie, which is about a lonely little girl who, with the help of a mischievous space alien, helps rediscover her sense of family and belonging.

Also lending his voice to the movie is Jason Scott Lee, who moved to Hawaii when he was 2 and lives on a farm on the Big Island.

Carrere said it was important to both of them that Hawaii be depicted accurately, including the way the characters speak the local pidgin English.

Q: Are you satisfied with how Hawaii comes across in the movie?

A: Absolutely. I think it’s going to make people want to come to Hawaii because of how good it makes them feel when they watch it in the film.

It’s the feeling of togetherness and family, and it’s so beautiful the way it’s hand-drawn — the watercolors and everything — it really gives you a feeling of how lush and gorgeous Hawaii is.

Q:. How is working on an animated feature different from your other projects?

A: It’s very different in that you have no idea what the finished product is going to look like. ... You’re really shooting blindly and trusting the directors to point you in the right direction — where you’re supposed to be and how big your (voice is) supposed to be, and calibrating the performance.

Q: Would you do it again?

A: Oh, absolutely. When it’s a Disney animated feature — and this is the way I sold it to Jason — I said, ‘You have to do it. It’s something that’s there for all posterity, and we’re representing Hawaii on top of it.’

It’s a history. It’s an archive of family entertainment from ‘Dumbo,’ to ‘Bambi’ to ‘The Little Mermaid’ — all these films are some of my favorite films and to think that I’ll be part of it forever and for my children, if and when I have them, and my children’s children, it will always be there. I’m sure that’s why a lot of stars do it.

Q: What was it like hearing your voice coming from an animated character?

A: It was unnerving. The first time I saw it, it was very distracting ... It’s weird hearing your voice coming out of somebody that doesn’t look like you.

Q: What’s next in your career?

A: If I could figure out a way to live in Hawaii and make a living, my life would be complete. To live on the beach in Hawaii and make a living — that would be my idea of heaven.

BALTIMORE — “The Wire” is only nominally about Baltimore detectives’ protracted investigation of a drug gang in the city’s west side housing projects — it’s also a conduit for David Simon’s exploration of the futility of the drug war and the pervasiveness of corporate culture.

In Simon’s view, the police department and the drug organization are dysfunctional corporations that treat their employees as expendable and have lost touch with the public they serve, existing just to sustain themselves; and his two protagonists — homicide detective James McNulty (Dominic West) and midlevel drug dealer D’Angelo Barksdale (Larry Gilliard Jr.) — are frustrated middlemen whose iconoclasm puts them at odds with their bosses.

“McNulty’s working for Enron, and so is D’Angelo Barksdale,” Simon, the show’s creator and executive producer, said during a location shoot on Baltimore’s notoriously violent Pennsylvania Avenue.

“What we’re trying to do is a TV show that is masquerading as a cop show, but it’s really about what happens when a policy goes awry and bureaucracies become entrenched,” said Simon. “The police bureaucracy is fixed and permanent, and the drug bureaucracy equally so, and they both treat their middle management the same.”

The 13-episode series (whose fifth episode airs Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT) kicked off with McNulty sitting in on Barksdale’s murder trial. The young killer walked free after his cohorts intimidated witnesses. Afterward, for motives that remain unclear, McNulty spilled his guts to the trial judge about the drug gang run by Barksdale’s uncle, Avon, and the 10 murders it has committed without a conviction.

The confession creates a whirlwind of shakedowns and finger-pointing within the police department, and McNulty is banished to the narcotics unit to try to bring a case against the Barksdale crew and placate the judge. But the department clearly isn’t committed to the kind of investigation — with wiretaps and sophisticated surveillance — that would net any major arrests.

Meanwhile, Barksdale is banished by his uncle to a low-rise housing project, where he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the violence necessary to sustain the drug trade.

Simon, a former police reporter for The (Baltimore) Sun, previously worked on two other Baltimore-based TV shows — “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “The Corner.” But he wanted to return to the streets of Baltimore because there were aspects of the police department and the drug war he hadn’t yet explored.

“This is the department I covered in all its dysfunctional glory, where everybody was careerist and where nobody lost their pension by failing to do police work,” Simon said.

The show’s comprehensive look at a drug organization comes largely from Edward Burns, Simon’s co-writer, who was a Baltimore detective for 20 years and specialized in the kind of protracted investigations that “The Wire” dramatizes — investigations that, in the end, did little to change the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

“Whatever damage that the drugs themselves haven’t done to these neighborhoods, the war against them has managed to do,” Simon said. “It’s impaired the police department, it’s alienated whole subcultures of Americans, and it’s solved nothing.”

Very little is disguised in “The Wire,” from the blighted locations full of vacant lots and gutted, boarded-up row houses to the back-stabbing and dishonesty in the police department’s downtown headquarters.

The grittiness extends to the actors, most of whom don’t have Hollywood looks — except, perhaps, for West as McNulty.

West, a native of Sheffield, England, is starring in his first series after a run of supporting roles in films including ”28 Days” and “Rock Star.” During a chat in his trailer, he’s self-effacing about his uneasiness playing a Baltimore detective and his attempts to lick the American accent.

“It’s a dream for an actor to do something that’s completely alien, and this really is completely alien to me,” West said.

Not so for Simon. He’s showing the world as he sees it, and makes no apologies about using a TV drama to explore widespread political and social malaise.

For that reason, “The Wire” will likely have to work harder to build an audience than HBO’s breakout hits “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under.”

Simon hopes his audience will be patient.

“We can’t pay viewers off with an arrest or a victory or a solidifying sense of accomplishment every episode,” he said. “We’re after something different, and hopefully the payoff is much more resonant and much more meaningful.”

JACKSON, Miss. — China’s Wu Haiyan says performing with the best dancers in the world was as great an honor as the gold medal she received in USA International Ballet Competition.

Haiyan was awarded the gold medal in the senior women’s division on Friday. The competition closes Sunday with a performance by medal winners.

The USA IBC is the United States’ official international ballet competition. The two-week competition is held every four years in Jackson. About 100 dancers from 24 countries competed this year.

Speaking through an interpreter, Haiyan said she hopes the experience she gained during her first international performance will help her “give more beautiful performances to audiences around the world.”

“This is a new beginning for me,” she said. “In the future I will make a great effort to achieve more.”

Haiyan, 23, performs with the Central Ballet in Beijing, also known as the National Ballet. She’s been dancing since she was 10 years old.

American dancer Joseph Phillips, a native of Columbia, S.C., took the gold in the men’s junior division. Phillips, a 16-year-old student at the North Carolina School for the Arts, said he plans to pursue a career in classical ballet.

“I just think it was a dream and it just came true,” Phillips said.

No gold medals were awarded in the men’s senior or women’s junior divisions.

Bruce Marks, chairman of the international jury, said gold medals are not always awarded because dancers are judged on international standards.

“We are comparing these youngsters to the best dancers around,” he said.

Medalists in each of four divisions receive cash prizes, Marks said. The jury also awarded special awards and scholarships to some finalists who did not medal.

CAMDEN, N.J.— When Colombian singer Shakira takes the amphitheater stage in this teen-pop concert, girls in the crowd wave their hands in the air and squeal. Then they whip out their cell phones and call a friend.

Mobile phones have quickly become a popular concert accessory. Fans call friends to brag about the show and hold up their phones so others can hear a favorite song.

At a recent concert at the Tweeter Center in Camden, the crowd was dotted with tiny cell phones — Nokias and Motorolas in pink, silver and blue.

Connelly sways back and forth with the crowd, her phone above her head in one hand.

“She did it for Britney Spears and now for this,” says her friend Megan McGorman, 18, on the other end of the line at home in Ridley Park.

Sue Aiello, 19, is sitting on the grass with three friends, all wearing tank tops and chatting on cell phones. She plans to call friends when Ja Rule comes on later. “They’re working and I’m not,” she explains.

Of course, not everybody at the concert is calling to share the music or show off.

“I called in between songs to check on my son,” said Jennifer Ritchie, 21, of Leesburg, N.J.

And many parents insist their teens take a phone to a concert for safety’s sake, or to let parents know where and when to pick them up.

Concert promoter Butch Stone of Little Rock, Ark., says he’s never heard artists complain about cell-phone use during performances or raise questions about whether people on the other end of the phone might be recording the show.

“In terms of piracy, I don’t think the technology is there,” he said.

“Our policy is this: Unless the artist objects, we don’t restrict cell phones or cameras. I can’t recall the artist ever having a problem.”

The concert calls are just part of cell phones’ overall popularity with young people, said Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney.

“People from 18 to 24 are coming of age in a technological era. Because so many of them have them now, they’re getting more creative in how they use them,” she said.

She also said “people are text messaging everything from ’Meet me at the concert’ to ’Where are you?”’

Jodi Heyman, 25, holds out her phone during a song by the boisterous O-Town. She leaves a message for her brother, who’s in the military.